Dave Portnoy Slammed for Fueling Caitlin Clark–Angel Reese Divide in Blunt Online Admission

The Angel Reese-Caitlin Clark divide is literally creating borders between fans. Some are choosing the Angel Reese camp, while others are going with Caitlin Clark. Both are the future of the WNBA and are building their legacies, but their rivalry takes center stage in nearly every WNBA conversation. Fans are eager to debate and argue about who is on the right side of the coin. The Barstool Sports founder has been a staunch Caitlin Clark supporter from the beginning — the general of her fan army, so to speak.

Time and time again, he has supported Clark, but his support has often gone too far. As a public personality, he has spoken out a lot against Angel Reese and repeatedly mentioned that he “hates” her. He went on a rant after the Clark-Reese controversy on the opening day of the season. “Caitlin fans have every reason to hate Angel Reese,” he said at the time. This sentiment has stuck in the minds of WNBA fans, and they have once again criticized Portnoy for bringing in Angel Reese, where there was seemingly no connection.

The narrative was about Portnoy and StudBudz. The Barstool Sports founder had praised StudBudz for their coverage of the All-Star weekend, which did more “marketing for the WNBA with their 72-hour stream than the bozos running the league since its inception,” according to him. Returning that favor, Courtney Williams, the Stud of the StudBudz, dealt with the topic on stream, saying, “All I know is I’m gonna show love to the people who show love to me. So if he’s showing love, then it is what it is. We’re gonna have a conversation, but the same way. We always have a conversation with everybody, right?” She further shared about inviting Portnoy on stream to discuss things.

Portnoy shared the clip and captioned it as, “People are big mad at Studbudz just ’cause we talked. W fans are freaking nuts. I got one of the biggest megaphones in the country. I love them. I love the league. Yeah, I don’t like Angel, and I love Caitlin. It’s called sports.” Fans are criticizing the businessman and online personality for bringing Reese into the mix when the conversation stemmed around Portnoy and StudBudz.

Fans criticise Dave Portnoy for Angel Reese statement

Dave Portnoy is a polarizing figure. Some fans admire him for spotlighting the WNBA and being a passionate supporter of the league, while critics accuse him of jumping on the Angel Reese–Caitlin Clark rivalry bandwagon to likely push his agenda. Outspoken and unapologetic, Portnoy doesn’t shy away from controversy, but when he targeted Angel Reese in his latest tweet, many fans saw it as completely unnecessary and just fueling the fire.

Always finding a way to bring up Angel https://t.co/yXQbbglxwm pic.twitter.com/UgjnUKeN5a

— (@IDKWHYSNOW) July 24, 2025

One fan wrote, “Stop exploiting them u weirdo.” Portnoy has been pretty vocal and aggressive in his ‘hatred’ of Angel Reese. And that has gotten him a lot of clicks and interactions, and more importantly, a spotlight. Portnoy has his own audience, which differs from the WNBA fanbase, which meant they flocked toward Portnoy to either hate him or love him. Either way, he gained new eyes, which in turn fueled his popularity to another level. Portnoy diversified his viewership via this rivalry. At least that’s what the theory is. He might even be a genuine Caitlin Clark fan, like many are.

Another fan sarcastically wrote, “Get back in the trenches, Portnoy,” which basically implied that he was doing futile work on this platform in another one of his negative tweets toward the player he hates. However, he can’t help it. Portnoy runs a media company; it runs on the attention of the public, and repeatedly stirring up controversy definitely brings more eyeballs. It’s a common tactic, but there’s nothing particularly malicious about it.

This fan accused Portnoy of taking the rivalry beyond the game, writing, “You not liking Angel like she did something to you is weird lmaoo you take it beyond the basketball court.” Portnoy has made various comments about Reese’s behavior, calling her an “instigator, agitator, and j——-.” That sounds personal to many fans, and this has been repeated over the last couple of years.

The criticism of her basketball is valid, but many times, Portnoy has commented on things not related to it. The intensity and the frequency irk the fans, as another echoed the same sentiment, writing, “You’ve literally harassed, disrespected, and called her names?! That’s not just sports.” But the StudBudz are going to have Portnoy on their stream soon, where they have committed to asking him about his hatred of Reese. So we will have a more detailed answer right from him soon.

Not everyone’s against Portnoy, as plenty flip the coin and see him as a true WNBA booster, drawing massive crowds and spotlighting the league with zero hidden motives. He has even advocated for the players in the fight for a better CBA, calling people who disagree “morons” and criticizing league management. That also attracts more fans to him and further debate. That’s the rivalry’s real win: sparking heated debates that get messy, but hey, it’s way better than fading into obscurity from zero buzz.