The Atlanta Dream might have the best record in the WNBA right now, with four wins to just one loss, but the stats seem to indicate that star forward Angel Reese is hurting the team more than she’s helping.
The Dream added Reese this offseason through a high-profile trade with the Chicago Sky. But despite Reese’s star power, the stats indicate that the team has actually been better when Reese is off the court rather than when she is playing.
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Reese Hurts Her Team
While Reese has developed a reputation as the top rebounder in the game, as well as a consistent scorer, ESPN’s Net Points metric paints a grim picture of what she has actually meant to the Dream.
ESPN’s Net Points metric is designed to give a complete picture of what a player means to a team, as it “gives offensive and defensive credit to players corresponding to points added to the team point differential.” Unfortunately for Reese, she does not fare well in this statistic.
This season, Reese’s overall Net Points rating sits at -13 – -12 on offense and -1 on defense – indicating that she is actively hurting her team when she is on the court, and the team actually performs better when she has been off the court.
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This was certainly the case in a recent game against the Las Vegas Aces when Reese was benched down the stretch after going just 1-for-8 from the field while turning the ball over eight times. With Reese on the bench, the team was able to mount a late comeback.
Criticism Mounts
Needless to say, this statistic led to a lot of reactions from fans on social media who were quite critical of the Dream star.
“Been saying this since game one for the Dream. They are making massive comebacks and winning games when angel reese is off the court. Embarrassing cultural movement,” a fan wrote in a post on X.
“Wow. This is diabolical. With her insanely low shot percentage and high turnover rate it’s not surprising however. Her stans of course will make up excuses,” another fan said.
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“Funny how the Dream are better without Angel while the Fever are better with CC and yet the W Media discourse tries to say the opposite… well, them and the Fever coach,” someone else added.
“So glad people are opening their eyes,” another fan added.
“Yikes! She really is bad for this team,” someone else wrote.
“Proof, she is the 4th option… at best. Why did she take 16 shots the previous game?” another person commented.
Reese was able to bounce back with two strong performances since her eight-turnover performance against the Aces. We’ll have to see how she performs on Thursday night when the Dream takes on the New York Liberty.
The post ‘This is diabolical’: Criticism mounts as Angel Reese is hurting her team appeared first on The Comeback: Today’s Top Sports Stories & Reactions.
