How the Atlanta Dream Can Unlock Angel Reese's Efficiency
The biggest criticism of Angel Reese's professional basketball career to this point has been her field goal efficiency. Specifically, her efficiency near the basket.
Reese shot 49.8% from between 0 and 3 feet of the basket during her rookie 2024 campaign, according to Basketball Reference. This number increased to 52.2% in her second season, which was the fourth-worst among forwards and centers who played at least half of their team's games in 2025. Compared to elite forwards like Nneka Ogwumike (81.6%), A'ja Wilson (75.7%), and Alyssa Thomas (71.6%), it shows that there's clear room for improvement in this regard.
Much has been made about Reese's "Mebounds", which is her patented phrase for her getting her own rebounds. She's the best player in the league at getting boards, but her ability to convert these offensive boards to points at a reliable clip has been scrutinized.
But these efficiency struggles came when Reese was with the Chicago Sky, who lacked playmaking guards and sharpshooters who could spread the floor and create space for Reese to work in the paint. Since she was Chicago's biggest offensive threat, defenses would focus on her, collapse the paint when she had the ball, and create tough shots.
And since Reese presumably felt the scoring responsibility, she would force shots when they weren't there, thus hurting her field goal percentage.
Angel Reese Joining the Atlanta Dream Changes Matters
But now Reese has been traded to the Atlanta Dream, who have an elite guard duo of Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray. With these two being able to create their own offense and hurt teams from range, opposing defenses have no choice but to give them the respect they deserve.
This helps Reese because it will clear the paint and provide better angles and cleaner finishing opportunities. What's perhaps even more important is that Reese doesn't have as much of a burden to score with so much talent around her, which should make it so she's less inclined to force shots up.
Reese will still be an elite rebounder and score a lot of points via putbacks. But with less help defense already clogging the paint when she secures these putbacks, she should have easier scoring opportunities.
LET’S GO ROOK! 💪
— WNBA (@WNBA) May 8, 2024
Angel Reese powers thru for the board and putback!
📲 WNBA App pic.twitter.com/yeLV0Er1wf
Ultimately, Reese is still a young player with a ton of talent and room to develop. And this development could come quickly once she begins playing alongside her elite Dream teammates.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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