Apparently, putting her in the conversation wasn’t enough.Reese received 46 of the 74 votes for the award announced Thursday.Golden State Valkyries forward Gabby Williams finished second with 20.
Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson, the best defender in the WNBA as far as I’m concerned, received four.Four.Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese was named WNBA Defensive Player of the Year by a wide margin.(Todd Kirkland/Reuters)Reese received more than 11 times as many votes as Wilson and more than twice as many as Williams.The result fits a suspicion I’ve had about Reese’s coverage for a long time: too many members of the media want her to be an elite player so badly that they oversell what she actually does.ESPN TURNS ANGEL REESE’S 49 ‘MEBOUNDS’ INTO PROOF THAT SHE’S A LEGENDARY WNBA REBOUNDERAn award decided by sportswriters and broadcasters gives them something convenient to point to when anyone questions that assessment."Of course she’s elite.
Look at the award we gave her."The Dream finished 30-14 this season.They ranked third in defensive rating, allowing 103.5 points per 100 possessions.A very good season.
But how much better did Atlanta get after adding Reese this past offseason?Last year, the Dream finished...30-14.
The exact same record as this season.Surely the team's defense improved by adding the Defensive Player of the Year, right? Well, not exactly.The Dream ranked second in defensive rating, allowing 98.9 points per 100 possessions in 2025.Atlanta already had one of the league’s best defenses before Reese arrived, and the team was actually a little worse defensively this year.Angel Reese is a solid basketball player but the WNBA media desperately wants to her to be elite.
(Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)That doesn’t mean Reese made Atlanta worse.Rosters change, opponents change and comparing defensive ratings across seasons requires accounting for many variables.
But anyone selling her arrival as a dramatic transformation has to exp...