Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream currently sit just four games away from being crowned WNBA champions. It would be a franchise-first for the Dream, who joined the WNBA in 2008, and make Reese the first star of her generation to lead her team to a title. Things looked very different for both parties not so long ago.
This time last year, then-Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese was sitting at home on her couch, watching the Finals from afar after missing the postseason in her first two years in the league. About 700 miles south in Atlanta, the Dream were in soul-searching mode after the winningest regular season in Dream history ended in a postseason flameout. Reese's two years in Chicago had been marked by phenomenal individual play on the court and a sizeable economic impact to the franchise and community, both of which were often overshadowed by poor team play, perplexing roster decisions, coaching instability and front-office mismanagement.
By the end of the 2025 season, when Reese gave an ill-advised on-the-record interview to the Chicago Tribune that threw shade on teammates and leadership (and the Sky responded by suspending her for half of a game), it was clear that the two sides were no longer bringing out the best in one another. Meanwhile, the Dream's first year under new head coach Karl Smesko had resulted in 15 more wins than their 2024 campaign and a No. 3 seed and home-court advantage in the playoffs, but the end result was the same as it had been the two years prior: A first-round loss, this time at the hands of an injury-plagued Indiana Fever team. The Dream had All-Stars, but no superstars; they were tough, but lacked a competitive fire; they had a strong culture and core, but did not know how to harness any of that when it mattered the most.
So, when Reese was traded from the Chicago Sky to the Atlanta Dream on April 6, the match immediately made sense. Reese needed a fresh start, a steady organization and a talented roster. The Dream needed a winner and a fighter -- not to mention one of the best rebounders and defenders in the game.
"It felt like the right situation for me, and I felt like I was able to come here and help the team in any way I could. Coaches and a GM that really believe in me was something I was really, really wanting after my first two years," Reese said in her introductory press conference. But what turned the pairing from sensible to sensational was what came next.
Smesko knew that the skillset Reese came to town with would make the Dream better instantly. But she lacked in one area that Smesko is famous for valuing -- the ability to shoot from the 3-point line. Due to the condensed offseason schedule, a consequence of the late arrival of the new CBA, Smesko didn't have time to feel Reese out, ease her into his system, to see first-hand if the rumors that had always followed her about being a diva or too distracted by off-court endeavors were true.
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