Angel Reese spent her first two seasons as a pro navigating the culture shock of going from a national championship program in college to being drafted by one of the most dysfunctional franchises in the WNBA.
She was understandably unhappy. The Chicago Sky won just 13 games in her rookie season. 2025 was supposed to be different. The Sky traded for Ariel Atkins and signed Courtney Vandersloot, Rebecca Allen, and Kia Nurse in free agency. The influx of veteran talent was supposed to help the Sky return to the playoffs. That never happened, and when Reese shared her frustration with the continued losing publicly, she was suspended for half a game. Reese didn’t suit up for the Sky again because of an injury after that, and the rift between her and the organization became crystal clear.
Turns out, Reese was right to ask for more, to demand a higher standard, to wish for a winning roster around her. When the Atlanta Dream traded for her, she got that, and she has fit in seamlessly, helping the team reach the finals for the first time since 2013.
Angel Reese has been phenomenal for the Dream
This postseason has been all about defense. The two teams left to battle for the championship are led by the top two vote-getters in the Defensive Player of the Year race and finished the regular season first and third in defensive rating. As the newly crowned Defensive Player of the Year, Reese has been the epitome of that.
But Reese has done much more than “just” anchor the Dream’s top defense with her blocks, ability to get steals from pretty much anyone, and switchability. She has also been invaluable offensively, especially with Brionna Jones sidelined for all but nine regular-season games.
Reese averaged 3.6 offensive rebounds per game over the first two playoff series, giving the Dream extra possessions. She also averaged 18 points on 43.3% shooting from the field and 38.5% from three. Under Karl Smesko’s training, she has vastly improved as a scorer, making her layups more efficiently and becoming a more confident 3-point shooter. Reese benefitted greatly from joining a team with an established system, roster continuity, and a great head coach.
Without Reese, the Dream probably wouldn’t be headed to the finals. She put together two 20-point games to close out the New York Liberty and held her own defensively against Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart—two former league and finals MVPs—and 6’11” Han Xu.
All Reese needed to prove that she was right to be dissatisfied with her situation in Chicago was one playoff run with a good team around her.
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