Caitlin Clark's Fever teammate Kelsey Mitchell weighs in on fan treatment of Angel Reese

Indiana Fever contestant Kelsey Mitchell spoke about the perceived recovery of Chicago Sky star Angel Reese by fans While speaking to reporters at the WNBA All-Star event a reporter inquired Mitchell her thoughts on the negativity directed toward Reese as a Black woman I think it's crucial to make sure that we keep it less about color and more about just human to human Mitchell answered I think if you just have decency and common decency about what we do as women on the floor you know that Angel Reese is a bad woman on and off the floor And we as women have to represent that CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS COMWhen questioned what Mitchell would say to the fans who direct negativity at Reese Mitchell disclosed God bless you I hope your spirit is in heal a stage to where you don't have to make these comments cuz it's really bashful Um we as women We come on here and we try to compete and connect and use hoop to you know express ourselves Mitchell explained Like it's not constantly going to go our way and the people that bet on us and the people the nasty comments that we get about the people we do and don't play with it's like it's disrespectful to what we trying to do like give us the benefit of the doubt and I hope that people see us as humans Reese is one of the league's more popular and polarizing players and has built a passionate following largely on her ongoing rivalry with phenom Caitlin Clark dating back to their college days Clark's and Reese's rookie season in saw the league break multiple viewership and attendance records particularly due to games featuring Clark and the Indiana Fever Reese was criticized for a gesture at the end of the NCAA women's basketball championship encounter where she pointed to her ring finger to taunt Clark after Reese's association won The moment boosted Reese's inhabitants profile and incited polarizing attention with a great number of of Clark fans hurling criticisms at Reese online However one instance of alleged mistreatment of Reese was investigated and not substantiated WNBA INSPECTION FINDS NO EVIDENCE OF HATEFUL COMMENTS TOWARD ANGEL REESEAfter a broadcasted matter of fan harassment against Reese during the Fever and Sky's first competition of the season on May the WNBA launched an scrutiny into the matter But the league declared days later that the claims of hateful comments were not substantiated We appreciate the swift and thorough process undertaken by the WNBA to investigate these claims which were not substantiated the Fever commented in a declaration At Gainbridge Fieldhouse we are committed to providing the best accomplishable basketball experience for players and fans where hate speech has absolutely no place Indiana is home to the world's greatest fans and we look forward to an exciting season of Fever basketball Added the WNBA Based on information gathered to date including from relevant fans association and arena staff as well as audio and video review of the contest we have not substantiated the assessment The WNBA is committed to fostering a safe and inclusive milieu for everyone and will continue to be vigilant in enforcing our fan code of conduct U S Sen Jim Banks R-Ind called on the WNBA and the Fever to apologize to Fever fans after that review exposed no evidence Reese accused the Indiana Fever fan base of being racists They investigated it They declared those accusations were false The least that she could do is apologize to our great state and the fans that show up at these games and say I m sorry I was wrong Obviously she s not going to do that Banks declared Tuesday during an appearance on OutKick s Don t Me with Dan Dakich Those are awful accusations They weren t true The fans weren t shouting racial slurs towards Angel Reese or opposing players I mean where is Caitlin Clark Where is the Indiana Fever Where is the WNBA saying that that research There shouldn t have been an inspection The accusations were false Where s the apology It s disappointing It is unclear whether Reese notified the WNBA to prompt the assessment Sky head coach Tyler Marsh uncovered out about the reports when everyone else did However Reese has noted in the past that Fever and Iowa fans have been racist toward her It s so demeaning to our state and to the fan base to go through something like that The least they can do is apologize to the fans Banks added That s the kind of garbage that gets thrown around all the time Follow Fox News Digital s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter