Allisha Gray’s shot rolled off the front of the rim and into the hands of Angel Reese, the same way it had 999 times before.
The Atlanta Dream power forward put back the board for two points in the 113-96 victory against the Indiana Fever and, more importantly, the distinction as the fastest player in WNBA history to 1,000 career rebounds.
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It should come as little surprise. Reese was previously the quickest WNBA player to snare 500, 600 and 750 career boards, as well as 900, with the ceiling officially now hers to set.
The cherry on top of the record-setting June 20 contest was the Dream’s thorough 113-96 takedown of Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever in front of a sold-out State Farm Arena of 17,044.
It was a statement game that helped fuel a quickly escalating debate. Is Angel Reese the greatest rebounder of all-time? Is she the beneficiary of or a pioneer in a new era in the WNBA?
Here’s what the data says…
THE MILESTONE
The 1,000-rebound milestone was just another addition to a resume that’s projecting to threaten just about every rebounding record.
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Reese eclipsed the 1,000-board mark in 10 fewer games than it took Tina Charles (89) to reach the same level. And she did so right out of the box with 13.1 RPG during her 2024 rookie campaign, the highest in league history.
Her 446 boards that year set the WNBA’s all-time mark for rebounds in a single season, while also recording league records with 15 consecutive double-doubles and three straight games of 20-plus rebounds.
Reese has notched a league-record 57 double-doubles through 75 games. To put that in perspective, the only player in either the NBA or WNBA history with more double-doubles in their first 75 games was Shaquille O’Neal with 63, followed by Blake Griffin, also at 57.
She kept the momentum going in 2025, averaging the second-highest single-season rebound mark ever at 12.6 RPG, along with 14.7 PPG and 23 double-doubles. So far in 2026 with her new team, the Dream, Reese is filling the stat sheet with 14.8 PPG and 11.7 RPG for East-leading Atlanta (12-9).
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In fewer than 80 career games, she sits at Nos. 1 and 2 on the all-time single-season total rebounds and RPG record list. It’s a rocket-esque take off to a career. Can she maintain it?
REESE VS. THE ALL-TIME GREATS
As wonderful as the milestones are, is it still too early to crown Reese among the GOATS after a mere 2.5 seasons? Before she ascends to the throne, three big bosses stand in her way: Tina Charles, Lisa Leslie, and Sylvia Fowles.
Here’s where Reese compares historically to three of the all-time rebounding greats.
TINA CHARLES
You want to be the best; you have to come for the top dog.
Tina Charles is the undisputed rebounding champion with 4,262 career boards (473 games) before retiring in May of 2026, placing Reese 3,262 after she grabbed her 1,000th board.
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While a staggering number at first glance, it’s a number within reach for Reese if she wants to catch Charles, who led the WNBA in rebounding a league-best four times.
Charles posted 15.5 PPG and 11.7 RPG during her Rookie of the Year 2010 campaign. By her third season with the Connecticut Sun, her rebounds per game came down to 10.5, but her scoring improved to 18.0 en route to winning her only MVP award.
LISA LESLIE
It took Lisa Leslie one career game to become the first player in WNBA history to record a double-double way back in 1997.
The Los Angeles Sparks center averaged 9.1 RPG over her 12 seasons to finish sixth on the WNBA’s all-time leaderboard with 3,307 rebounds. She boasted three seasons in which she averaged more than 10-plus boards for the entire year. Ironically, she earned all three MVP awards while averaging fewer than 10 RPG during those seasons.
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SYLVIA FOWLES
Reese’s real target might be Sylvia Fowles.
The former Chicago Sky and Minnesota Lynx center is the league’s all-time leader for career rebounds per game with 9.8 RPG. All while only playing 41 games her first two seasons due to injury. It was Fowles’ then-record-setting 404 total rebounds in 2018 that Reese surpassed by 42 during her rookie year.
REESE V. THE FIELD
So where does this leave Reese standing in her quest to join the all-time greats?
There’s a path to eclipse all three, and it begins from the easiest to surpass in Leslie to the toughest in Charles.
LISA LESLIE
With all due respect to Leslie, her mark is most likely to fall.
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Reese is currently 2,226 rebounds behind Leslie. At her current pace of 12.65 RPG, Reese would need approximately 182 games or about 4.5 40-game seasons to catch Leslie. That would place Reese around the age of 28 or 29. Mark your calendars.
SYLVIA FOWLES
Reese is currently outpacing Fowles. The WNBA Defensive Player of the Year averaged 9.8 RPG over 408 games. Reese’s 12.65 RPG career average blows that out of the water.
Granted, she’s only played 79 games since entering the league in 2024. The watch now is whether or not Reese can maintain those haughty numbers and, if so, how much distance can she place between her and the next best all-time rebounder.
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TINA CHARLES
If Reese’s health, perseverance and luck maintain, Charles’ record for career boards should be within reach. But it’s going to take some work.
At her current trajectory, Reese needs approximately 258 games or roughly 6.5 seasons to grab the 3,262 rebounds that she needs to snare the all-time crown. That would make her about 31 years old and poised to set the record in 2033 or so.
Again, this is all based on maintaining the rocket-type launch of her career. But with the major records for single season and career rebounds in sight, it’s possible to argue that Reese already belongs in the category of the triumvirate of the league’s all-time rebounds in Charles, Leslie and Fowles.
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At least, that’s what the numbers are telling us.
BUT…CAN SHE SCORE?
Despite the impressive resume, Reese’s game still isn’t without any critique.
The term “mebounds” was coined due to her perceived proclivity of prioritizing her own rebounding stats, whether justified or not.
If you stripped Reese of all of her offensive rebounds on the season at the time of her 1,000 career rebound, she would still be leading the league in boards with 80, 15 more than the next closest rebounder in Natasha Howard of the Minnesota Lynx with 65.
But do boards equal points?
Reese trails all three in PPG at their respective year-three mark, where her 14.8 PPG falls short of Charles (18.0 PPG), Fowles (17.8), and Leslie (16.6). What Reese does have going for her is that none of those three were able to simultaneously post 11-plus rebounds and 14-plus points per game in their third seasons.
Reese has them beat in that regard, even if she might not have to. The Atlanta Dream have flourished in Reese’s first season with the franchise.
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Despite a recent five-game skid, the Dream find themselves in first place in the Eastern Conference with the same 13-9 record as Indiana as the July 25 All-Star Game approaches.
And it’s due in large part to a team-first attitude and the only roster among the league’s top-seven teams that lacks a 2026 All-Star Game starter.
“I expect to be disrespected,” Reese told ESPN about her Dream teammates Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray also being All-Star snubs. “For those two, though, I think they work so hard, and they put a lot of work in, and the way that they’re guarded every game and they (have to) adjust. The reason why we’re where we are is because of those two.
“For us to not have anyone was a slap in the face, but they’re not going to say anything. I am.”
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THE LANDING
So is Reese an all-timer? Pioneer? Beneficiary of a changed league? The data places her among the elite at this point in her career.
But there is one place where Reese falls behind the big three: Most Valuable Player awards.
Charles, Leslie and Fowles have combined for five MVP honors, with Leslie taking home the award three times. Reese has to contend with A’ja Wilson, among others. The Las Vegas Aces forward has claimed four MVP awards, including back-to-back awards in 2024 and 2025, and appears to have a stranglehold on the hardware.
Meaning Reese, who finished 12th in MVP voting during her rookie year, is highly unlikely to join the big three, and therein lies the gap.
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There’s also the matter of the most important metric of them all. Both Leslie and Fowles have each won a pair of WNBA titles. Charles, however, is regarded as one of the greatest players in league history to not win a title or even make it to the Finals.
Reese is currently 24 years old. Within the next decade, should her stats remain steady, she’ll cement her legacy as the premier face on the WNBA’s Mount Rushmore of all-time rebounders.
If there’s a glass ceiling, Reese doesn’t seem fazed. After all, she makes a living by dominating the glass.
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