Angel Reese Makes Bold Defensive Player of the Year Claim After Career Game
Angel Reese was beyond disappointed in herself when she missed a layup to secure a win against the Indiana Fever last weekend. She has bounced back in the biggest way possible, recording two 20-point double-doubles and then following it up with a career game against the Phoenix Mercury.
Reese finished the Atlanta Dream’s 99-89 win against the Mercury with 31 points on 14-21 shooting from the field, 14 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 steals, continuing her streak of efficient and dominant scoring.
After the game, Reese spoke about how good it felt to score at such a high level and clinch the playoffs for the first time in her career, but it wasn’t all about the offense. She also spoke about the Dream’s defense led by her, Rhyne Howard, and Jordin Canada.
“I think the Defensive Player of the Year is in Atlanta,” Reese said in the postgame media availability, per a video by The Ballers Magazine. “One through three. One of us. So, you can check the stats, too.”
Reese, Howard, and Canada force more steals than anyone
It’s incredibly rare that three players from the same team lead the W in a statistical category, and yet here we are. Rhyne Howard leads all players in steals per game with 2.4. Jordin Canada ranks second with two per game, and Angel Reese averages the third-most steals in the league with 1.8.
Unsurprisingly, no team averages more steals or forces more turnovers per game than the Dream. Atlanta has the fourth-best defensive rating in the league behind the Golden State Valkyries, Minnesota Lynx, and Washington Mystics. When everyone is locked in, the Dream can defend as well as anyone, and at least one Dream player certainly deserves to be in the DPOY conversation.
Who else is in the running for Defensive Player of the Year?
This year’s Defensive Player of the Year race will be close. The Valkyries have the best defensive rating in the W, which makes Gabby Williams, the Valkyries’ All-Star and head of the snake on both ends of the floor, an obvious candidate—although one could argue that Kiah Stokes’s rim protection has been just as important to the Valkyries’ defensive success and even enables Williams to gamble and fly around on the perimeter.
Otherwise, A’ja Wilson is always a candidate for DPOY. She already has three DPOY awards and leads the league in blocks once again.
Shakira Austin, who has been an outstanding anchor for the Mystics’ excellent defense, also deserves to be in the conversation. Nia Coffey and Natasha Howard both had excellent cases early in the season, but now that Napheesa Collier is back and Coffey has moved to the bench, the latter has the better case as a stalwart for the Lynx’s top-two defense.
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Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.