Fox News Columnist Urges WNBA Media to Stop Telling Fans What to Care About

At halftime of Game 7 of the WNBA Finals, Atlanta led Golden State 30-24. That was 54 points between the two teams on 31.8% shooting. Angel Reese and Gabby Williams, the two co-favorites for Finals MVP, had combined for seven points on 3-for-8 from the field, five from Reese and two from Williams. A Fox News/OutKick column, an opinion piece, begins there. It uses the ugly numbers to question a call from ESPN's Chiney Ogwumike for the media to talk more about basketball.

The columnist wrote after being asked on OutKick's "Don't @ Me with Dan Dakich" what the biggest WNBA storyline of the season would be, and whether it would have anything to do with basketball. The answer to the second part, the columnist said, was no. The writer says they care about the sport, having spent more than two weeks flying between San Francisco and Atlanta to cover the Finals. Their own reporting focus was on why both teams left the court before the national anthem and what players, coaches and the league said about it.

The column's target is Ogwumike's July appearance on "First Take," where she argued for a reset in coverage of Caitlin Clark and the league. She said airtime should go to "the beautiful basketball being played in the 30th year of the WNBA." The columnist questions whether that basketball is really where attention should go.

The case rests on the Finals numbers. Through six games, Reese and Williams had combined to shoot 34.4% from the field. The lowest field goal percentage ever for an NBA Finals MVP was Kobe Bryant's 40.5% in 2010. In the second half of Game 7, Williams scored 28 points, hit the go-ahead three with under three minutes left, and finished with 30 points and four blocks as Golden State won 68-63 for its first WNBA championship. The columnist says she deserved the trophy. She also shot 32.6% for the series, the lowest by a WNBA Finals MVP.

Reese shot 40.5% in the Finals, including 41.8% in the paint, and missed 28 of her 53 layups. She averaged nearly 13 rebounds, which the columnist grants is a reason to keep her on the floor, though a 6-foot-4 forward should convert more shots near the rim.

The column's larger argument is that drama is what draws viewers. After Game 3, Reese gave Golden State the "too small" gesture, then smiled and waved as the Valkyries left the court. She had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Atlanta led the series 2-1. Over the next two games she went 4-for-20 and began complaining about the officiating. By Game 6, the player who had mocked Golden State's size was one loss from elimination.

The columnist ties this to history. In the closing moments of the 2023 national title game, Reese followed Clark around the court, using the "you can't see me" gesture and pointing to her ring finger. A year later, 12.3 million people watched Clark's Iowa eliminate Reese's LSU in the Elite Eight. This August, Clark's Fever and Reese's Dream drew 2.6 million viewers, ESPN's biggest WNBA audience ever.

The league reported 3.3 million viewers for Game 7, a strong figure by the columnist's account, though they say it needs context they supplied in an earlier column. The writer's conclusion is that even viewers tuning in to root against Reese got to watch Williams take over a title game. The advice to WNBA media is blunt: if you want more people watching, stop telling them what they are supposed to care about.