Angel Reese is still learning — but the discourse won’t wait

“Can I say something?” Ariel Atkins asked a room full of reporters Tuesday night, following another blowout loss to the New York Liberty.

As usual, the initial flood of postgame questions had been directed at second-year Sky star Angel Reese, including one about how her efficient performance against New York might send a message to her detractors online.

That’s when Atkins, the Sky’s leading scorer, took the mic.

“This is a 23-year-old kid,” Atkins said. “And the amount of crap she gets on the day to day, she still shows up. So whatever questions y’all got about our team, basketball-wise, we appreciate it. All the other nonsense? It’s irrelevant.”

But the nonsense is hard to ignore. The online noise around Reese is relentless, and often cruel. Last time the Sky played New York, a clip went viral of Reese getting blocked multiple times on a single possession. Former MVP Jonquel Jones swatted away her attempts without hardly batting an eye.

The video and its comments embody a complicated dynamic. There’s the cheap punchline: “Angel Reese can’t make a layup.” There’s the racism that feeds on her every mistake. And underneath all that noise, there’s the real basketball question facing the 2–6 Sky: Who’s going to put the ball in the basket?

What kind of player can Reese be for this franchise?

The Sky haven’t quite figured that out yet.

In her WNBA season preview, one of the league’s sharpest analysts Seerat Sohi compared Reese to Draymond Green and Alyssa Thomas. Those players dominate through soft skills and basketball IQ rather than high-volume scoring. If Reese becomes anything close to either, it’ll be a career worth celebrating.

But there’s a big gap between the two. Green fits nicely next to superstars. Alyssa Thomas is a superstar. Which direction Reese goes matters a lot for the Sky.

During training camp, general manager Jeff Pagliocca told the Sun-Times that his offseason moves were meant to capitalize on their young talent. He added shooters like Atkins and a legendary facilitator in Courtney Vandersloot to improve the offense. But even before Vandersloot went down, their offense was floundering.

The team is scoring fewer points per game than last year. Reese is shooting just 35.9 percent from inside of five feet — the worst mark in the league and down from last season.

“I haven’t been playing well at all,” Reese said. “I can sit here and just mope around and point the finger, but it’s been me, and I take accountability.”

When asked about Reese’s poor efficiency, head coach Tyler Marsh said the team needed to create better looks for her. Pagliocca told the Sun-Times something similar.

It’s an important vote of confidence. The brain trust isn’t panicking.

But they’re also not talking about a big piece of her struggles: her layup form.

She releases the ball from an unusually low point. Her momentum often carries her forward rather than up toward the basket. And one leg kicks out as she jumps, limiting her elevation.

Those aren’t moral failings. Nor do they mean she can’t be great.

Maybe she’ll adjust, or maybe old habits will hold her back.

Hard to know. To have that conversation, we’d need a different kind of press room — one not shaped by clickbait, PR guardrails, and a deep discomfort with talking about race and power directly.

Sometimes Reese is treated like a celebrity, fielding questions about brand deals and entertainment awards. Sometimes she’s unfairly cast as a stand-in for all successful Black women. And then, sometimes, she’s treated like a second-year pro still growing.

That all happens over the course of one press conference.

When asked how she stays centered, Reese put it simply: “This is my life. Nobody else’s life. I get to wake up every day and do what I love. I try to give myself a lot of grace because I am young and I’m still trying to figure things out.”

Jason Lieser contributed to this report.