ESPN left fans baffled after making Angel Reese the favorite for the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year Award.

Angel Reese gesturing (left) and Caitlin Clark coveing her face (right)

The ROTY race is heating up and is now the most exciting aspect of the current regular season due to Reese and Clark being the frontrunners.

The rivals have led impressive individual campaigns in 2024 and are breaking records almost every game. They’ve been finding ways to upstage each other all season, but only one of them will win the award at the end of the term.

As of Thursday morning, The Worldwide Leader in Sports had the Chicago Sky forward down to win the award, having released their latest 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year Award rankings.

Reese moved ahead of Clark to claim the No. 1 spot this week. And fans couldn’t handle it:

“Angel Reese is on fraud watch idc what y’all say,” one wrote.

“It’s just for clicks. At the end of the year Caitlin Clark will be rookie of the year,” another declared.

“They are so clearly doing this for clicks. No one ACTUALLY think Angel Reese is better than CC,” a third said.

“This is wildly upsetting. Caitlin’s in a league of her own and Reese doesn’t belong in ROTY talks,” a fourth remarked.

“They really trying hard huh,” a user claimed.

ESPN Explains Why They Have Angel Reese At No. 1

ESPN’s explanation for Angel Reese’s jump up the rankings is as follows:

“For the most part, Reese has been a stat-stuffing dynamo in her debut campaign. She is a close second (behind Clark) in points per 100 possessions among rookies, leads by a mile in rebound rate and has been the best active defensive rookie following Brink’s injury June 19.

“And aside from teammate Lindsay Allen, no member of the Sky has been associated with more of an uptick in the team’s performance while on the court than Reese, who has overseen a 16.6-point improvement in Chicago’s net rating when she’s in the game.”

While the latest rankings are sure to cause some controversy, there’s still plenty of time for things to change (or stay the same).