Angel Reese’s Biggest Weakness Remains a Concern With Atlanta Dream
Angel Reese’s game had one obvious weakness when she came into the WNBA: scoring inefficiency. She shot only 39.1% from the field in her rookie season, converting 47% of her attempts in the restricted area. Her accuracy improved significantly in her second season, as she shot 45.8% from the field and 50.7% in the restricted area.
Still, her numbers paled compared to the other top bigs/forwards in the W. Brionna Jones, Napheesa Collier, A’ja Wilson, Kiki Iriafen, Aliyah Boston, and Nneka Ogwumike, some of the other bigs who made the 2025 All-Star team, all shot at least 61% in the restricted area last year.
When Reese was traded to the Atlanta Dream, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to improve her efficiency. With the Chicago Sky, she had to create many of her own shots and regularly force bad looks because there were so few other scoring threats on the team. Atlanta has an array of playmakers and high-level scorers to shoulder the brunt of the offensive burden.
And yet, they haven’t unlocked Reese’s efficiency so far. Six games into the season, Reese is still only shooting 40.3% from the field.
Reese is struggling to score efficiently for the Dream
Reese had to join a new team for the first time in her WNBA career, so she deserves some time to adjust and learn her new role. Even with that in mind, it’s concerning that she has only shot over 38% from the field twice so far—a 4-8 performance against the Dallas Wings and a 7-11 outing in the rematch. She shot 37.5% from the field or worse in all other games, including a 1-8 outing against the Las Vegas Aces.
Almost all of Reese’s field-goal attempts this season have come in the restricted area—50 of her 62 attempts, to be exact. She is currently shooting 48% from the restricted area, according to the WNBA’s tracking data. That is very much in line with what she has done before rather than showing any notable improvement.
Reese is getting to the free-throw line regularly, averaging over five attempts per game, and has largely been reliable from there. She made all of her free throws in two games and went 7-8 in another.
Reese can still help the Dream win
While her inefficient scoring is a concern, Reese is doing other things to help the Dream win—and they do that a lot, only losing two games so far. She leads the team and the WNBA in rebounds per game with 10.8, as one of three players to average a double-double. Atlanta is the best rebounding team in the league with 39.2 rebounds per game, including 11.3 offensive boards.
Reese is also averaging more than one block per game for the first time in her career, and the Dream have the fourth-best defensive rating in the league.
Moreover, Karl Smesko recently cited her competitiveness as a difference-maker for the Dream.
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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.