Of all players from the 2024 WNBA Draft class, Angel Reese ranks second in career points per game, first in rebounds per game, with a WNBA-record 12.6, and fourth in assists per game. She also is one of just two players to have been selected as an All-Star even once, and she’s achieved the honor in all three years.
All this after questions surrounding her height, as well as perceived lack of a midrange and 3-point shot, led to her being drafted at No. 7 overall by the Chicago Sky, who traded up one
spot, ahead of the Minnesota Lynx, to select Reese.
Needless to say, the Los Angeles Sparks, Dallas Wings, Washington Mystics and even Sky, who passed on Reese at the No. 3 pick, underestimated her.
But exactly how much did they underestimate her? Is Angel a star? Or is she a superstar?
Right now she is the best player in the WNBA … out of those who are still playing.
When Reese was traded to the Atlanta Dream ahead of the 2026 season, she was joining a team that had seemed like a legit championship contender during the 2025 regular season before they were unceremoniously eliminated in the first round. The only key difference between the 2025 Dream roster and the 2026 iteration is the presence of Reese in place of aging WNBA legend Brittney Griner. Reese was seen as the missing piece to a Dream championship.
The missing piece, but not necessarily THE piece.
Now, with Atlanta up 2-1 on the Golden State Valkyries in the Finals and Reese being the frontrunner for MVP of the series, it’s clear: She is THE best player on the Dream.
Like all those WNBA teams that doubted her on draft night, should we have seen this coming?
Angel’s mental makeup and personality provided hints at her potential for all-time greatness
Reese is known not just for playing the game, but also for putting on a show.
We didn’t see it as much during her first collegiate stop with the Terrapins in her home state of Maryland, but once she joined LSU as a junior, she became the Bayou Barbie—and the rest is history. She led the Tigers to the national championship in her first season in Baton Rouge, famously mimicking Caitlin Clark’s “you can’t see me” celebration at Clark, whose Iowa team lost the title bout.
Reese averaged 23 points, 15.4 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.6 blocks as a First Team All-American that year, with 15 points, 10 boards, five assists and three swipes coming in the championship game. She asserted her dominance and proved her championship DNA.
Perhaps it was then that we should have known this player—fueled by her emotion, bravado and ability to get in her opponents’ heads—would not be denied.
The Bayou Barbie became the Chi-Town Barbie, and now she’s the ATL Barbie. The show has continued at every stop: the stank face, the yapping, the “too small” gesture. And all along the way, she’s been chastised for what is merely passion.
As our Zachary Draves wrote about after the national championship game in 2023, the criticism and double standard between Reese and white players boils down to racism, something that has continued in the W, as Reese has remained labeled the antagonist to Clark.
The 2026 WNBA Finals have belonged to Reese
In the face of this racism, Reese has gotten better and better as a basketball player. Her scoring average has risen from 13.6 points per game in 2024 to 14.7 in 2025 to 16.4 in the 2026 regular season to 19.4 in these playoffs.
You could have easily made a case for either Allisha Gray or Rhyne Howard as the best player on the Dream entering this season, and Reese stood up for both of them instead of herself when all three were snubbed from the All-Star Game starting lineups.
But, at the end of the regular season, Reese finished seventh in MVP voting—higher than Howard, who finished eighth, and Gray, who didn’t receive any voting points.
Reese also achieved the high honor of being named Defensive Player of the Year.
Then came the playoffs.
Reese has scored 20-plus points four times, including a 30-piece, over her last five games. In the one game in which she failed to reach 20, the Dream’s Game 1 loss in the Finals, she got off to a phenomenal start with 11 points in the first quarter before being held to just three points over the remainder of the contest.
That failure only fueled her to her historic 30-point and 16-rebound effort in Game 2, which led the Dream to a comfortable victory. She followed that up with 21 points and 12 boards in the Game 3 blowout win. She was again the best player on the floor, and this time in front of HER home crowd at State Farm Arena.
She’s even shooting 7-for-11 (63.6 percent) from 3 over her last six games. All that hard work with Dream head coach Karl Smesko before every game is paying off; she shot just 19.3 percent from distance in the regular season.
No one is more responsible than Angel for the positive vibes surrounding the Dream right now.
Winning two more games to claim the championship is far from guaranteed. But we’ve witnessed Finals MVP-level play from Reese over the last two games, and she is unquestionably the face of the Dream at the moment.
She’s who everyone can’t stop talking about. This appears to be her time.
She’s not only the best player on the Dream right now; she’s accomplished things in these Finals that are historic on an all-time and entire-league level.
Back in State Farm Arena on Saturday, the ATL Barbie continue her quest to bring the Dream a first championship—something that not only would secure her place in Atlanta sports lore, but also in the ranks of all-time women’s basketball greatness.
