Jason Whitlock: “I’m going to give Angel Reese A LOT of credit and celebrate Angel Reese. I’ve had a lot of negative things to say about Angel Reese, I haven’t liked Angel Reese, but after last night’s WNBA Draft, I LOVE Angel Reese.

Something very, very important happened last night and we have to thank Angel Reese. I came up with an awesome nickname for Caitlin Clark -- ‘Show White’. Angel Reese has been calling herself ‘Bayou Barbie’, but I have a new nickname for Angel Reese... She’s ‘The Gift.’ She is the gift that just gave the WNBA and women’s basketball its greatest boost in the history of the WNBA. I’m not exaggerating here – she just did something more important, or at least just as important to what Caitlin Clark has brought to women’s basketball.

Caitlin Clark has brought unbelievable eyeballs, interest, and relevance to the WNBA, but what Angel Reese just added to the WNBA and what she’s added to women’s basketball over the past year is just as important if not more important. People watched the WNBA Draft last night and liked what they saw, and we have to hat-tip Angel Reese because of it.

There was a picture of 16 women on stage with WNBA commissioner Kathy Engelbert and ‘Jake From State Farm.’ There is only one of them that doesn’t present themselves in a highly feminine, as-best-of-their-ability attractive way. Everyone on the stage looks like a natural woman who is happy being a woman, and who is presenting a feminine side of themselves. Some of these women look amazing.

I know these ladies are young, I’m not saying this to be perverted, it’s still a Christian show, but we have to analyze what’s going on her and I gotta hat-tip the WNBA and hat-tip everybody involved because this is orchestrated. We saw Cameron Brink, I think she played at Stanford, she was the number two pick, she’s 6’4”... This was her on the runway for the WNBA Draft. [showing a picture of Brink] I’m sorry, I’m just going to keep it real – at 6’4” and a basketball player, I’m not sure if you can do much better than that. Kayce Smith from Barstool tweeted out ‘We used to fight wars over legs like that’ and she’s 100% right. Men would go to war over legs like that. We have to credit Angel Reese who made this happen.

This was all orchestrated. The WNBA said ‘Ladies, I need you to come out here, put your best on, and be as attractive as you can possibly be.’ This is a severe pivot from the Brittney Griner-led WNBA. From the Diana Taurasi-led WNBA. From the Sue Bird-led WNBA. This is why there’s so much hatred, animus, and jealousy towards Caitlin Clark and this new group of young players. They're bringing in a new energy and a new aesthetic to the WNBA.

They’re pivoting away from ‘HEY, WE WANT TO PRESENT OURSELVES AS LITTLE MEN’. We’re coming out here all tatted up, and there’s no difference from Brittney Griner and Kevin Durant. There's a difference between all of them ladies standing on stage and how they’re presenting themselves, to anything you would see in the WNBA. Angel Reese is the reason why it happened.

She set the tone for this. She set the tone all year. I know she’s all over the map of ‘THEY SEXUALIZED ME!’... Nah, Angel, you sexualized yourself, but I have to be real and honest here... What Angel Reese did is actually healthy for the WNBA and women’s basketball. Angel Reese made it cool for women’s basketball players to be women and to show their feminine side. She did this all year. All year I didn’t like it, I didn’t see the brilliance of it, I didn’t know it was going to lead to this, but that’s what’s happened. Without Angel Reese setting this tone over her Instagram all year and wanting to get all dolled up for the WNBA Draft, the WNBA can’t get the rest of these women on board with that. They would all go the Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Brittney Griner, Megan Rapinoe route, but because Angel Reese set a different tone, she’s now the Pied Piper and all the rest of these women hopped on board.

We we’re going to have an unprecedented number of eyeballs for this Draft and we wanted people to leave this experience going: ‘Oh, man, those women are relatable. Those women are happy being women. Those women want to show off their feminine side.’ Yes, maybe Angel Reese goes a little too far, but I’m sorry, I would much rather prefer this than Brittney Griner showing up in a suit and tie looking like ‘Lil’ Pronoun.’

I don’t care about their sexuality. What I care about is they presented themselves last night like ‘nah, I’m good being a woman and I don’t want anyone to mistake me for a man.’ This is brilliant marketing by the WNBA. The women came off as wholesome, and their families came off as wholesome.

Caitlin Clark is awesome, but Caitlin Clark is not the reason the WNBA was about to market itself as a women’s basketball league last night. Her performance on the court is what is drawing all this attention, but Angel Reese just maximized the attention they got. If these young ladies had presented themselves in an unfeminine fashion, it would be a disaster, and everybody would watch the WNBA Draft and go ‘nah, I’m good, I’ll read the stats of Caitlin Clark, but I can’t watch this. I don’t want to watch a bunch of tall Megan Rapinoes.’

They looked happy being women and it was a huge statement for the WNBA.”

The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon