Basketball legend Lisa Leslie caused a stir when she claimed that Kaitlyn Clark and Angel Reese should share this year's WNBA Rookie of the Year award.
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Clark and Reese are both having stellar debut seasons in the WNBA, renewing their thrilling college rivalry while vying for the prestigious Rookie of the Year award.
After joining the Indiana Fever as this year's first-round draft pick, Kaitlyn has already broken several records in the major leagues, most recently with 86 three-pointers, the most ever by a rookie.
Meanwhile, Angel is having a breakout season with the Chicago Sky, breaking the WNBA's single-season rebound record with 418 rebounds on Sunday night.
But in their final showdown before the Rookie of the Year award was decided, Clark beat Reese after Reese's 31 points led the Fever to a 100-81 win over the Sky.
Many believe the Indiana phenom now has the award -- especially considering her team has a 17-16 record compared to Chicago's 11-21 -- but Leslie sparked outrage this season when she said both rookies deserved the award.
The two-time WNBA champion wrote: "The pressure and strain of this season has changed the @WNBA forever and both rookies have risen to the top and exceeded all of our expectations!
Take a bow, girls." Leslie, who spent her entire 12-year WNBA career with the Los Angeles Sparks, was heavily criticized for her opinion, with the majority of fans firmly believing Clark should have been the clear winner in the poll. One person responded to her: "No, you have a good take but this was awful.
Really awful. One player is on a top team in the WNBA and the other is a role player who is not contributing to the team winning basketball games." Stop it.'
Another wrote, "Lisa, we respect you so much but let's get serious for a second." A third wrote, "Totally disrespectful to Clark's actions." A fourth wrote, "This is not a consolation prize."
"Clark and Reese are miles apart, there's no comparison so get serious." A fifth commented, "Hmmmm..." It's unanimous Kaitlyn (laughs). Big win for Angel!
But Kaitlyn did some crazy things so it would be a disgrace for her to have to share this award. And sports podcast host Jason Whitlock told Leslie, "This level of skin color tribalism is sad and unfortunate. An elite rebounder versus an elite basketball player. Please delete this tweet.