Clark, Reese on same team at WNBA All-Star weekend and in spotlight in matchup against Olympic team

PHOENIX (AP) — Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese will once again step into the spotlight during All-Star Weekend with their matchup against the U.S. Olympic team.

They'll get to team-up for the first time on the WNBA All-Star squad after being rivals in college. Reese's LSU Tigers topped Clark's Iowa team for the national championship in 2023. The Hawkeyes knocked out the Tigers this past year in the Elite Eight.

While there has been so much hype on the pair entering the WNBA, the duo has shown they can compete with the best players in the league. That's helped show this isn't just a moment for the WNBA, but a larger movement for the sport.

“I definitely think it’s much more than women’s basketball. I think you look across the board at all women’s sports, and people are really invested in it and show up for it,” Clark said. “Obviously, women’s basketball has kind of been at the forefront of all of it. And for good reason, as it should across the board, whether it’s college women’s basketball or the WNBA. The talent level has been really good.”

While both Clark and Reese have been challenged through physical play on the court and and a lot of noise off the court during their rookie season, they've flourished.

“I told Angel at the draft that I’m not trying to put anything heavy on her, but this league depends on you playing, you know, well. And she understood, she understood that things weren’t going to be handed to her,” said WNBA union president and Seattle Storm center Nneka Ogwumike. “I think that’s why she’s doing well. I think there were a lot of naysayers and I think there was a lot of debris coming Caitlin’s way, and they’ve handled it well.”

The pair have helped the league to record ratings and attendance through the first part of the season, building on what they achieved in college. Clark finished as the NCAA's Division I all-time scoring leader and Clark won an NCAA championship at LSU.

The pair's success so far in their rookie season potentially helped increase the value of the WNBA for it's new media right's deal that is worth a reported $2.2 billion over 11 years.

“They are handling it the best that they can and it’s always good that they can back it up,” said Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson. “To actually be good at what they do is important because it wouldn’t be good if they weren’t and no one wants to see you play.”

Reese is currently leading the league in rebounding and Clark is tops in assists. She just broke the league’s single-game assist mark with 19 against Dallas in Indiana’s last game before the Olympic break. Reese already broke the WNBA record for consecutive double-doubles in a season with 15.

"I never would have dreamed that I would have been playing in the All-Star Game as a rookie," said Reese, who hit a halfcourt shot at the end of practice.

Brittney Griner, Elena Delle Donne and Skylar Diggin-Smith were among the college players who had major hype around them entering the 2013 WNBA draft. The trio have had stellar WNBA careers, but didn’t move the needle the same way Clark, Reese and the rest of this rookie class have so far.

“We saw what they could do and why wouldn’t it translate over?” Griner said. “They put in all the hard work and they do everything. They’re not just running on media they, they actually play hard, too. I’m just happy that there’s validation for all those people that had doubts.”

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark arrives for a WNBA All-Star event, Thursday, July 18, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/John Marshall)

FILE - Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) play sagainst the Washington Mystics in the first half of a WNBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese will once again step into the spotlight during All-Star Weekend with their matchup against Team USA. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

FILE - Chicago Sky's Angel Reese (5) drives to the basket as Los Angeles Sparks' Dearica Hamby defends during the first half of a WNBA basketball game, May 30, 2024, in Chicago. Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese will once again step into the spotlight during All-Star Weekend with their matchup against Team USA. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

FILE - LSU's Angel Reese, left, and Iowa's Caitlin Clark, right, pose for a photo before the WNBA basketball draft, Monday, April 15, 2024, in New York. Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese will once again step into the spotlight during All-Star Weekend with their matchup against Team USA. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are holding relatively steady after a jobs report billed as the most important of the year came in mixed. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% early Friday, but it’s still on track for its worst week since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 128 points, and the Nasdaq composite was flat. The action was stronger in the bond market, where short-term yields dropped after the report showed U.S. employers hired fewer workers in August than expected. Some traders raised their forecasts for how much the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate by later this month.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Wall Street followed global markets lower Friday ahead of a highly anticipated U.S. jobs report that’s expected to influence the Federal Reserve's next move on interest rates.

Dow futures slipped 0.3% before the opening bell and S&P 500 futures are off 0.5%.

Broadcom tumbled 7.2% in premarket trading after the chipmaker gave a lukewarm forecast, even though it nudged past third-quarter profit targets on booming revenue related to artificial intelligence. Broadcom, whose shares are still up more than 25% this year, said it expects fourth-quarter sales of $14 billion, which is short of Wall Street expectations.

U.S. Steel jumped 2.6% in premarket after the CEO of rival Cleveland Cliffs told MSNBC that his company would still be interested in acquiring U.S. Steel if the Biden Administration were to block its proposed sale to Japan's Nippon Steel. Lourenco Goncalves also accused Nippon of frequent breaches of trade policies and cited national security issues if the proposed $14 billion Nippon-U.S. Steel were to go through.

The job market report, set for release later in the day, could dictate how big of a cut to interest rates the Federal Reserve will deliver at its next meeting later this month.

After keeping its main interest rate at a two-decade high to stifle inflation, the Fed has hinted it’s about to begin cutting rates to keep the economy from sliding into a recession. Most analysts are forecasting somewhat of a rebound in August job gains after July's disappointing numbers sent markets into a tailspin.

Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, France's CAC 40 and Britain's FTSE 100 each slipped 0.2%, while Germany's DAX shed 0.5%.

Trading was cautious in Asia amid lingering worries about a possible recession in the U.S.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.7% to finish at 36,391.47. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 8,013.40, while South Korea’s Kospi slipped 1.2% to 2,544.28. The Shanghai Composite shed 0.8% to 2,765.81. Trading was halted in Hong Kong because of a typhoon.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude gained 39 cents to $69.54 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 36 cents to $73.05 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged down to 143.13 Japanese yen from 143.40 yen, The euro cost $1.1110, down slightly from $1.1112.

FILE - People pass the New York Stock Exchange, at rear, on Aug. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

Currency traders watch computer monitors near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ), at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Currency traders watch computer monitors near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Currency traders talk near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)