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Iin the 1970s, the NBA disbanded. Playoff games were recorded late. Many of the league’s teams were in debt, baseball was still firmly America’s game, and lesser-known small-market franchises were winning titles. But then an influx of talent changed the whole operation. The 1979-80 NBA season saw rookies Magic Johnson and Larry Bird explode onto the scene with the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, respectively. But even then the two were known quantities, as was their budding rivalry. It all started in college the year before. The 1979 NCAA title game featured Johnson’s Michigan State team defeating Bird’s Indiana State in what is still the most watched basketball game ever in USA. It was a matchup that featured the flash and charisma of Magic against the quiet genius of Bird. Two skilled passers who make their teams better. Fast forward 45 years and history repeats itself, this time with the WNBA’s Angel Reese and Caitlin Clarke. Just ask Magic himself.
“Larry and I raised the general popularity of the NBA,” Johnson wrote on X on Monday. “The Lakers and Celtics sold out arenas across the league and increased television audiences exponentially. The higher viewership numbers led to significantly larger television contracts being signed by the NBA, which then led to higher salaries for the players. Kaitlyn and Angel are now doing the same, selling out venues and increasing audiences.”
The parallels between the Magic/Bird and Reese/Clark rivalry are many, starting with a matchup in the NCAA Championship Round. Reese and Clark faced off in 2023 in the title game when the former’s LSU Tigers played the latter’s Iowa Hawkeyes. The event also broke viewership records, becoming the most-watched women’s college basketball game, attracting nearly 10 million pairs of eyes. But unlike Magic and Bird’s contest, this one between Reese and Clark featured excellent silliness. Reese mocked Clarke who became the NCAA’s leading scorer in 2024 pointing to it finger to let Clark know who received the championship ring. Since then, the two have been must-see TV on their own, but especially when they’re together.
“They’ve taken women’s basketball by storm and with expiring TV deals on the horizon,” added Magic on X, “the WNBA is now in a position to negotiate higher TV contracts and raise the salaries of all the talented players.” (Not only that, but and Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson are selling out games left and right. A rising tide lifts all boats.)
On Sunday, Reese and Clark faced off in the WNBA for their final head-to-head battle, as Clark’s Indiana Fever fell to Reese’s Chicago Sky on the road, 88-87. Clark had 17 points, six rebounds and 13 assists. But Reese had a bigger stat line, scoring 25 points with 16 rebounds and extending his streak of another double-double. After the game, Reese, whose team was trailing by 15 points before making a thrilling comeback, touted his strength and confidence, saying: “I’m a dog. You can’t teach that.” Their two teams next play on August 30, in a game that could decide the playoffs.
“I think rivalries are great in sports,” Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman, former WNBA player, coach and executive, says the Guardian. “Larry and Magic, [Tom] Brady and [Peyton] Manning, Martina [Navratilova] and Chris [Evert] – rivalries are healthy and create excitement for fans. Why shouldn’t we look at these two players who have immense talent who came out with huge fan following? There is nothing wrong with this.”
Lieberman, who has an NCAA award named after her for the nation’s top point guard, which Clark won multiple times, was such a good player in her day that she was known as “Lady Magic.” When the WNBA’s inaugural season began in 1997, the Brooklyn-born ballplayer was the oldest player in the league at 39, and in 2008, at the age of 50, she signed a contract to play with the Detroit Shock. All of which means she’s seen a thing or two in basketball. And with that experienced eye, she says she agrees with Johnson’s assessment of the Reese-Clark rivalry.
“Any point anyone can throw at them, they have,” Lieberman says. “From the competition, from playing each other in college, being about the same age and playing in the ‘W’ — oh my God, it’s going to be fun for 15-18 year olds.” They are so good.”
Like Clark and Reese, Magic and Bird played different positions, meaning they rarely guarded each other on the court. Both rivalries are really about the overall impact players have on the game and society as a whole. And as for Magic and Bird, their rivalry seemed settled. Magic, with his million dollar smile, plays in a city full of movie stars. Byrd, with his quiet demeanor, played a continent away in the slightly less glamorous Boston.
We captured the imagination of everyone in America,” Johnson once said of the rivalry. “People wanted to see us play against each other … If you like competition, you want to play against the best and that’s what we wanted to do.”
But while Reese and Clark’s teams are in the Midwest (Reese plays in the city that made Michael Jordan famous and Clark plays in Byrd’s home state), their rivalry has parallels. Byrd and Magic became very wealthy men, partly due to their playing skills and partly due to the fame fueled by their rivalry. And while Reese and Clark don’t earn anywhere near the salaries that Magic and Bird did — both women will receive less than $75,000 from their teams this season — they’ve signed lucrative endorsement deals. Clarke and Reese were making millions from endorsements while still in collegeand those sums have only increased now that they are professional: Clarke reportedly signed a $28 million deal with Nike.
And while America’s rampant commercialism benefits all four players, there are other aspects of the US that more sinister effects on their lives. Both rivalries pit a black player against a white player, something that is inevitable augmented and armed by others in a country filled with racial divisions. And the players were and are forced to comment on this. Magic and a bird refused to inflame this tensionand there are signs that Reese and Clarke want nothing to do with it either. “People should not use my name to push these agendas. This is disappointing. It’s not acceptable,” Clarke said earlier this month.
Those comments came after many black and gay players in the WNBA were insulted on social media by those who believed Clark was targeted because of her race (the reality is much more nuanced). Clark remained silent at first before Connecticut Sun guard DiJohnny Carrington, who is Black, addressed her on the X: “Dawg. How anyone can’t be bothered by their name being used to justify racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia and the interrelationships between them is insane. We all see through the bullshit. We all have a platform. We all have a voice and they all carry weight. Silence is a luxury.”
While people have also turned Byrd’s Magic and skin color into weapons, Lieberman believes the situation is more tense for Clark and Reese.
“Martina and Chris, Larry and Magic,” Lieberman says, “they didn’t have to do social media. I think it’s really harder [Angel and Caitlin]. Complete strangers have an opinion, and they’re clearly entitled to it. You need to shut out the noise from the people who have an impact on your life. That doesn’t mean you don’t value the fans, but you also have to stay true to your own values. Most fans have never been in your shoes.”
Xavier McDaniel, who played against Magic and Bird in the late 1980s, also sees similarities.
“[Clark and Reese remind me of Magic and Bird] little because one is black and the other is white. I guess that’s what’s intriguing,” he says. “But I know athletes don’t see it that way. They compete and strive. Especially when you listen to some of the stuff that Caitlin Clark says like, “I’m just racing out there.”
And while Reese and Clarke have insisted that they had no personal disputes between them, are not exactly close friends. That may change. Johnson said he began bonding with Byrd when they shot a commercial together in 1985, when their playing careers were in full swing.
“Larry and I sat down to lunch and I’m telling you, we realized we were a lot alike,” Johnson said of that meeting. “We’re both from the Midwest, we grew up poor, our families [are] everything for us, basketball is everything for us. So that changed my whole perception of Larry Bird.
Lieberman expects great things from the Clark-Reese rivalry, even if it doesn’t become as close as Magic and Bird. But no one wins a championship alone. Johnson played with Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper and James Worthy. As Bird laced up his sneakers alongside his own collection of all-time greats Kevin McHale, Robert Parrish and Dennis Johnson. The Hall of Famer was all over the place in these games between the Celtics and the Lakers. As a result, the two met in the NBA Finals three times, and at least one of their franchises played in every championship series in the 1980s. After Magic and Bird arrived, the NBA stopped postponing Finals games. And while Bird won Rookie of the Year that first season, it was Johnson who took home a title and the 1980 Finals MVP award.
“Both [Reese and Clark’s teams] are right there in the playoff picture,” Lieberman says. “So anything is possible. It would be incredible for both of them to make the playoffs in their first year. But it’s not just about them. They are the highlights on television, but winning a championship won’t be all about them. It will be about their teammates and how hard they can play and grow together.
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