Angel Reese has made the transition from the NCAA to the WNBA look easy. During an interview with CBS Sports on Wednesday, the Chicago Sky rookie pulled back the curtain on how she has adjusted to playing at the next level.
“The speed is actually faster of course,” Reese said. “But, I think for me, coming into the league I knew defense and rebounding is something that I always can take to the next level and I knew that was gonna be my thing. I think I’ve done a great job being great on defense and rebounding.
“I think I have a lot more improvement for growth offensively, but I think I’ve done a great job so far. I think my transition has been great. It hasn’t been a super big, huge surprise because Kim Mulkey prepared me for this moment at LSU. Our practice was like four hours. We were ready. We were working. I thought it was gonna be harder.”
Angel Reese’s statistics back up her confidenct claims. The No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft is averaging 12.4 points, 9.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game while shooting 38.5% from the field. The Chicago Sky are currently 4-7 and fourth in the Eastern Conference Division’s standings.
On Wednesday, Reese may have had her best game yet. The 6-foot-3 forward exploded for a career-high 20 points and 10 rebounds on 8-10 shooting. Despite Reese’s excellent performance, the Sky fell 83-75 to Connecticut Sun.
Along with WNBA rookies like Caitlin Clark, Reese has played a pivotal role in the sport’s surge of popularity. Although Angel Reese hasn’t always received the same adoration Clark has, she’s proud of her contributions to the game.
“We’ve got celebrities coming to games, sold out arenas,” Reese said. “I’ll take the bad guy role and I’ll continue to take that on and be that for my teammates. I know I’ll go down in history. I’ll look back in 20 years and be like, the reason why we’re watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person. It’s because of me, too. I want y’all to realize that.
“It all started from the national championship game and I’ve been dealing with this for two years now,” Reese continued. “Understanding that, yeah, negative things have probably been said about me. But honestly, I’ll take that because look where women’s basketball is. People are talking about women’s basketball that you never would think would be talking about women’s basketball.”
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