One Angel Reese habit from flawed Chicago Sky roster doesn't hold up with Team USA

Angel Reese is one of several young stars in the middle of their first tournament with the senior national team. Team USA hasn’t lost a single game in the World Cup qualifying tournament yet. Reese has been solid, totalling 21 points and 28 rebounds over three games. 

Playing with Team USA is quite the change from playing with the Chicago Sky. For one, Reese is surrounded by other stars now and doesn’t have to do everything herself. That includes bringing up the ball after a defensive rebound. In Chicago, Reese needed to have the ball in her hands as much as possible last season. She needed to score, rebound, defend, and make plays for her teammates. 

She doesn’t have to do all of that with Team USA, but Reese’s first instinct after a rebound still seems to be to push the pace herself instead of handing the ball over to Chelsea Gray or Cailtin Clark. She did it a few times against Puerto Rico, but was clearly focused on making the adjustment against Italy. 

This is not to say that Reese can never push the ball on a fast break. In most situations, it’s just better to give the ball to the phenomenal guards on the roster and let Reese run the floor. 

Team USA has a strong guard rotation

Sue Bird and Kara Lawson assembled a guard rotation of Chelsea Gray, Caitlin Clark Paige Bueckers, Kelsey Plum, Rhyne Howard, and Jackie Young. Gray and Clark are the two best passers in the WNBA right now. No one can set up their teammates, especially bigs, quite like those two. Bueckers, Plum, and Young are also high-level playmakers for their respective WNBA teams.

With Team USA, Angel Reese has all of the guard play and passing from the perimeter she could possibly want—and never had with the Chicago Sky. 

In Reese’s rookie season, the Sky’s leading playmaker was Marina Mabrey. She was traded to the Connecticut Sun mid-season. That left Lindsay Allen and Chennedy Carter as the top playmakers. Neither returned for the 2025 season. The Sky signed Courtney Vandersloot in free agency, but she only played seven games. 

So, Reese emerged as the Sky’s leader in assists per game. Ariel Atkins, Sevgi Uzun, and Rachel Banham also added playmaking, but they couldn’t replace having an actual floor general and phenomenal passer on the court with Reese. 

The Sky desperately need to upgrade the guard rotation to make sure that Reese doesn’t have to create almost the entire offense.