Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Angel Reese has put the Chicago Sky on notice

Angel Reese is a star and has no issues throwing her weight around on and off the court, even at the expense of her teammates. Her second season has five games left, but the start to her career has been spent on a team far away from doing anything serious because of internal drama, injuries and a limited, rebuilding roster. That’s not good enough for Reese, a college champion at LSU who also led Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore to three straight championships. 

She said, “… I’d like to be here for my career, but if things don’t pan out, obviously I might have to move in a different direction and do what’s best for me,” per the Chicago Tribune’s Julia Powe. Now her teammates are rightfully upset.

Now think of the Sky’s avenue to improvement. Per a press release on April 13, “In 2026, the Sky hold the rights to swap Phoenix‘s first-round pick with Connecticut’s.” Yet, they traded their 2027 FRP and the third pick in the 2025 draft, which was used on All-Star rookie Sonia Citron, for Ariel Atkins, who is in her eighth season and was formerly a two-time All-Star. Don’t forget that they also got the 11th pick in the last draft and the Lynx kept Chicago’s 2026 FRP. Hailey Van Lith, Reese’s former teammate at LSU who has struggled in her rookie campaign, was picked at 11.

The Sky (9-30) is one game ahead of the Dallas Wings (9-32), owners of the worst record in the league.  Can anyone foresee a bounce-back year in 2026 for the Sky? They need it for their sake, so morale isn’t zapped if they are the bottom feeders and Washington drafts superstar prospect Juju Watkins through the original Chicago pick.  

Reese must be looking at Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas thinking, “Dang, give me a team like that, and we’ll be in the mix.” 

Reese, on top of being the most productive rebounder (by average) in WNBA history at age 23, has shown she can be a reliable playmaker, nearly doubling her assists (to 3.7 per game) on a lousy 3-point shooting team. With snipers around her, she could average two to three dimes on offensive rebounds alone because defenses are vulnerable in those situations. Eventually rivals will stop helping on her drives if she keeps burning them with a feed to the corner or wing, and when that happens, expect her accuracy to elevate at close range.

Additionally, Reese guards well, but needs teammates strong at checking the point of attack to maximize her impact. She can’t be next to someone who is exposed in drop coverage either. 

There are two things she needs to do to emulate Thomas: get stronger so opponents are at an even worse disadvantage when she dribbles toward the cylinder. The other is to keep working on her jumper, which only drops 28.2% of the time, per WNBA Stats. This season, Thomas has raised her accuracy on her jumper by 15.2%.

Still, Reese has played at the level of a top-15 player since her turnaround after the poor start to the season. It behooves the Sky to get her some help quickly.