NBA

So, Just How Good Is Angel Reese?

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By
Lucas Kaplan
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Lucas Kaplan Sports Editor

Lucas Kaplan, a lifelong hoops addict, has been a credentialed reporter covering the Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty for three seasons apiece. He joins the Basketball Insiders team as an insightful league-wide analyst, bringing X's and O's expertise as well as a background in NBA Draft scouting to the table. Once taunted Jerry Stackhouse after making a clutch free-throw at his summer camp.

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Sports Editor

Updated2 hours ago on September 12, 2025

Angel Reese, Chicago Sky

One day after conclusion of her sophomore season, it seems likely Angel Reese has played her final game for the Chicago Sky. Following a “Keystone Cops” sequence in which she publicly demanded roster improvements heading into 2026 — lightly shading some of her teammates in the process, which led to a team-imposed half-game suspension, only for her to then miss Chicago’s final four contests with a back injury — Reese watched from the bench as the Sky lost to the New York Liberty Thursday night.

No matter, Reese found a way to go out with a bang:

When head coach Tyler Marsh was asked pregame if his star forward had a future in Chicago, he mustered a one-word response: “Sure.”

The WNBA playoffs are looming. Once a champion is crowned, CBA negotiations will take centerstage, perhaps even featuring a lockout. But Reese has never had a problem grabbing headlines and given a potential trade sweepstakes, she may be the talk of the offseason. Before fans and general managers alike get ahead of themselves, we should answer one question: How good is Angel Reese?

Year Two Improvements

It’s a tough question. Nobody else in the world plays like Angel Reese. You probably already know about the rebounding; just as she did as a rookie, the former LSU Tiger led all WNBA rotation regulars in offensive rebounding percentage this season. She took 85.3 percent of her shots directly at the rim, tied for the second-highest percentage in the league. She doesn’t take (or make) jumpers and yet, 96 percent of her minutes since entering the league have come next to Kamilla Cardoso, Elizabeth Williams or ex-teammate Isabelle Harrison. Despite playing the vast majority of her minutes alongside true WNBA centers, she lives in the paint.

This arrangement has clear benefits defensively. At 6 feet 3 inches with a plus wingspan, Reese dominates the glass but she isn’t a prolific shot-blocker. Rather than being a high-point sort of athlete, she’s best using her length and anticipation skills to play passing lanes or poke at the ball on closeouts; she rips an overeager ball-handler at least once a night:

Needless to say, this is a unique combination of skills. Alas, Reese does not seem destined to become a floor-spacing threat; after two seasons, she is shooting 22-of-90 on all jumpers, per Synergy Sports — a low volume that doesn’t strike fear in defenders and a low conversion rate to match.

The Sky — or Reese’s next team — will happily swallow that pill if her improvements as a finisher hold steady. The 2024 No. 7 overall pick shot just 41.6 percent at the rim her rookie season but that number jumped up to 48.2 percent in 2025. Not to mention, Reese is always a threat to grab her own miss.

Her odd style around the basket will always invite intense analysis or outright criticism; she is a “small” finisher, throwing it up from odd angles instead of extending to the rim, sometimes maximizing her ability to get the ensuing miss:

But after a brutal start to 2025, she made what could be career-altering improvements in the second half of the year. Reese played 30 games in her sophomore campaign. Over the final 15, she shot 54 percent from two (missing all nine of her 3-point attempts). That’s not an eye-popping number on its own but it’s nowhere near the league-worst numbers she was flirting with previously. For a player who takes nearly all her shots right at the rim, who rebounds like she does, it’s more than OK.

In terms of honest-to-god basketball reasons, Reese operated a bit more as a driver than as a post-up threat in 2025. This was a better match for her funky athleticism, as she could change directions to burrow a shoulder into her defender, creating a clear angle to the rim instead of having to shoot over a stationary contest:

A Defined Team Context

Compared to Reese’s rookie year, the Sky were a bit less post-centric under Marsh in 2025. Rather than initiating offense with their back to the basket, the Sky ran through the modern staples of pick-and-rolls and dribble handoffs. Only, they did it with two bigs on the court at all times, which occasionally made for a jarring viewing experience:

Reese finished the year underwater, averaging 3.7 assists and 3.9 turnovers per game. It was a similar story in her rookie season, averaging 1.9 assists to 2.2 turnovers. It’s easy, almost tempting, to see this ratio and dismiss any playmaking potential from the star sophomore. But further digging is rewarded with discovery. In 2025, Reese proved her ability to read help defenders, especially when driving or on the short roll, as opposed posting up. Defenders can attack her post-ups but have to react to her drives.

This first pass is not a great idea and delivered too low but it’s Reese at her most conniving. The rest of these passes are standard dump-off looks or kick-outs but they do inspire confidence she can be a plus passer for her role:

To boot, many of her turnovers are of the non-passing variety. I consider Reese a willing, additive screener, setting random flares in transition or finding a ball-handler who’s already getting toward the rim. But this often leads to illegal screens. As a driver, Reese struggled to maneuver through gap help, often getting ripped with a live dribble.

More of her turnovers came, unfortunately, on careless plays. Unbelievable as it may seem for a player with those rebounding numbers, though quite believable for a player who seemingly wants a trade, Reese’s effort and engagement waned throughout the season. Beyond the turnover numbers, this made her defensive value hard to gauge. Will she always be a spacey defender or is this just a phase?

That last clip isn’t solely on her. Williams gets caught on a flare screen, leading to an open 3-pointer. Yet an engaged Reese seems like the perfect firefighter. She’s not only long and nimble but displays considerable court awareness on offense — at least, enough to call out an emergency switch and close out to Kathryn Westbeld there.

What Type Of Player Truly Is Reese?

It’s hard to fully capture a player’s season in ~1,500 words. Especially if that player is as idiosyncratic and important to her team as Reese. A slight shift in offensive usage — taking even fewer jumpers but starting more possessions on the perimeter rather than posting up — benefited her. But still, comb through her 30 appearances and you will find many successful post-ups.

Thanks to that improved finishing, she is not just capable of sealing smalls on switches, but genuinely attacking bigs, too. For all the mean-spirited lowlight compilations, Reese was just 53rd in the WNBA in field goal attempts per 100 possessions and shot 76 percent from the line on a ton of attempts; you’ll live with some misses.

Of course, you’ll also find growing pains, particularly in a double-big lineup, like Reese kind of killing this possession both off and on the ball:

As part of her comments to the Chicago Tribune’s Julia Poe, Reese stated her belief that she and Cardoso were the only two guarantees on the Sky roster for 2026. Now, following the organization’s backlash to her comments and the subsequent kerfuffle, Reese may not consider herself a guarantee to be in Chicago next year. Nevertheless, her desire to stick by her bruising, paint-ridden center is interesting.

I mentioned Reese takes 85.3 percent of her field goals right at the rim, tied for second in the league. Well, Cardoso is first in the league, nearing 90 percent, per Synergy. Though both turned in stretches of exciting play this season, there was little overlap. And with Chicago taking just 20 3-pointers a game, second-fewest in the league, it’s worth asking if Reese would do well as a lone big. Maybe, her looks inside would get easier, too.

And on defense, she’s shown enough to warrant more time as the nominal center in any given lineup:

Trying to determine how valuable Reese is, now between her age-23 and age-24 seasons, requires an internal examination of your own basketball philosophy. How highly do you value offensive rebounding? What is an acceptable shooting percentage for a player who only takes the most valuable shots? Does having a non-shooting forward hamstring your offense no matter what you do?

During her rookie season, the Sky had a plus-0.18 net rating in the 1,104 minutes she was on the floor but were an absurd minus-21.36 per 100 possessions in the 496 minutes she sat. This season, the difference was less pronounced: minus-10 when she played, minus-16 when she sat. Even void of context, those numbers prove to us Reese is a winning player.

And yet, a contender should not be looking to trade for her in 2026. She should not be looking to join one. We know Reese is good but the more important question is what does she look like at her best?

It may not be the Sky but the team that can give her a runway to play through mistakes is best-suited to learn about her defense. Despite many flashes, Reese did not put together a consistent defensive season in 2025, occasionally hyperaware of cutters and actions around her, occasionally disinterested.

As a result, we don’t yet know what role for which she’s best-suited. Can she play drop coverage for 30 possessions a night and clean the defensive glass, can she see and communicate all in front of her? Or, do her length and instincts play better as a big, roaming wing, zoning up on the weak-side and smothering shooters with closeouts?

Offensively, she’s only one brief, chaotic season into having the ball in her hands beyond just play-finishing and it came in a clogged offensive environment with Ariel Atkins as the sole perimeter threat. The 2025 Sky were incapable of shooting plenty of threes, of popping the ball from side to side, as were the 2024 Sky. Nobody can earnestly answer what Reese looks like in a thriving, modern WNBA offense.

Amid a 2026 offseason chock full of star free agents, Reese shouldn’t be rushing to join a super team, no matter how gratifying that would be after two years with the Sky. There is still work to do.