Your bag is empty.
At the start of Angel Reese’s junior year at LSU in the fall of 2022, Shaquille O’Neal asked her what it would take for her to sign with Reebok. The Hall of Famer and LSU alum had been spending time on campus as his alma mater tried to recruit his daughter, and clearly saw a star in the making. Reese already had a few NIL deals in her portfolio and tens of thousands of followers on social media, and was quickly on her way to being known as the “Bayou Barbie.” But the 20-year-old decided to table that conversation, because, in her words, “I hadn’t won anything yet,” later saying she “didn’t want it to look like [it] was just based off of my name.” The brand mattered, but the ball came first – and the need to prove to critics insisted her fame outran her game.
In the three years since, Reese has won a national championship, signed that Reebok shoe deal with Shaq and her brand is bigger than ever. She’s quieted the doubters and is now just four wins away from capturing the Atlanta Dream’s first-ever WNBA Championship. That march to a title tips off Saturday against the Golden State Valkyries in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals.
Depending on who you ask, she’s either a hero or a villain, largely stemming from her longstanding rivalry with Caitlin Clark, who she famously defeated to win the national championship in 2023. That game helped turn her into an avatar for the division in this country after she turned Clark’s “You can’t see me” gesture back around on her. Many of Clark’s fans have hurled racist insults at Reese, calling her “classless” and denigrating her for everything from wearing makeup on the court to her glamorous, red-carpet persona. She’s been at once sexualized and criminalized, accused of being both a bad sport and too competitive, often criticized for seeming to care more about the trappings of celebrity than wins and losses. Apparently you can’t be a baller in lashes.
Even with the attention she gets off the court, whether she’s hosting her podcast or appearing on the cover of Vogue, she’s managed to refocus the conversation on her game this season. She became the first WNBA player to record 500 rebounds in a single season; was just named Defensive Player of the Year; and set single-season league records in total rebounds, offensive rebounds, and double-doubles. Atlanta’s opponents score 7.9 fewer points per 100 possessions when she’s on the floor, and she was instrumental in her team’s sweep of the New York Liberty to reach the Finals.
The Finals come at a time when the league has needed people to care more about what’s happening on the court rather than the dizzying headlines off the court. This season has been a tumultuous one for the W, with most of the chatter unfortunately centered around sideline distractions. The season was in jeopardy of not starting on time, with players authorizing a strike had they not been able to come to terms with the league on a new collective bargaining agreement. Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham decided to stoke the culture wars by repeatedly centering her stance on trans athletes instead of turning around her worst scoring season in five years. Last month, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced her retirement at the end of the calendar year after years of friction with players over officiating and online abuse. That announcement came shortly after she canceled a scheduled appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show,” where she would have faced tough questions about the league’s state of affairs. Instead, she did a friendly interview on a local sports radio show where she was asked softball questions about expansion. Even the commissioner was trying to escape the noise.
Few players have absorbed more of that noise than Reese. Between her social media presence, her rivalry with Clark and the “villain” persona foisted on her by the media, she’s often at the center of the conversation when that conversation is about anything but basketball. In a year in which the W was discussed in stories not having to do with basketball, Reese, one of the league’s biggest celebrities, and most polarizing stars, has made her most compelling case yet for just watching the games.
All she needed was Atlanta. About a month before the season started, Reese was traded to the Dream from the Chicago Sky, where she spent her first two years in the W floundering on a team that just couldn’t build around her. When she landed in Atlanta, she joined a team with star power and veteran experience led by Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard that already prioritized shooting and perimeter defense. She has a coach in Karl Smesko with a track record for developing players and a scheme that allows her to lean into her strengths, creating space for her to attack the glass and emphasizing shot volume, something her critics often deride her for. It’s a system that builds on her experience playing for the Unrivaled league in the offseason, where the spacing of the three-on-three format forced her to guard multiple players at multiple positions. She was named Defensive Player of the Year in that league, too.
Now, she and the Dream face the ultimate test in the Golden State Valkyries, the team best positioned to exploit Reese’s weaknesses. For all the strides she made this year, her efficiency hasn’t improved much from last season; critics still point to her shot volume and problems finishing. Meanwhile, Golden State boasts the league’s highest rated defense, incredible rim protection, and Gabby Williams, who was the runner-up to Reese for Defensive Player of the Year. The Valks won all three regular-season games against the Dream, holding Reese to 3-of-12 from the floor in their first matchup. But all three of those games were in June and July, before the addition of DeWanna Bonner and before the Dream closed out the season on a 17-4 run.
To get through Golden State’s vaunted “Valkatraz” defense, Atlanta will need Reese to dominate the glass as she’s done all season. She’s not going to solve her shooting issues in one series, and the Valks are designed to make players miss. What happens next will be the difference, and they’re going to need Reese to create second-chance opportunities. A huge boost would be getting Gray back healthy; the Dream’s leading scorer has been sidelined for two weeks after injuring her ring finger and pinky in the first game of the semifinals. Her presence stretches the floor and helps maintain the spacing that enables the best parts of Reese’s game.
Four years ago, Angel Reese turned down a shoe deal because she “hadn’t won anything yet.” She has since won a national championship and DPOY, and holds the WNBA’s single-season rebounding record.
Most importantly, she’s four wins away from winning a WNBA title and ensuring that the conversation around her remains about basketball.
