Angel Reese’s sensational rookie marketing campaign for the Chicago Sky has ended due to a season-ending wrist harm suffered Friday towards the Los Angeles Sparks.
“What a 12 months,” Reese posted on social media Saturday. “I by no means would have imagined the final bucket of my rookie season can be a 3 however perhaps that was God saying give them a style of what they are going to be seeing extra of in Yr 2 lol.
“I am stuffed with feelings proper now that I’ve a season ending harm, but in addition stuffed with a lot gratitude for what’s subsequent. Though that is God’s timing and never mine, I’m lastly in a position to give myself a bodily and psychological break. ‘God provides his hardest battles to his strongest troopers.'”
Reese, the No. 7 choose within the 2024 draft and star nationwide champion out of LSU, made a press release in her first season within the WNBA. She had 26 double-doubles, second most in a season in WNBA historical past, and earlier this summer season set a WNBA file with 15 consecutive double-doubles.
Reese’s closing season averages have been 13.6 factors, 13.1 rebounds and 1.3 steals per recreation.
Reese’s standout play earned her an All-Star choice, as she and Caitlin Clark — her faculty rival and predominant competitor within the Rookie of the Yr race — turned the primary pair of rookies to earn All-Star nods since 2014. Reese was Chicago’s fourth rookie All-Star and first since 2013.
Heading into the Sky’s recreation Sunday towards the Dallas Wings, Reese was initially listed on the harm report as questionable.
Earlier than the draft, professional expertise evaluators have been combined on how Reese’s recreation would translate to the professionals, however her motor and rebounding shined on the subsequent degree in unprecedented style. She turned the primary participant in league historical past to file 20 or extra rebounds in consecutive video games, doing so in three straight. Her 446 rebounds throughout 34 video games are essentially the most within the season in WNBA historical past, and her rebounding common is on monitor to be the very best in a season.
Reese’s reputation and presence in popular culture helped deliver a brand new wave of followers and relevance to the WNBA, too. Along with boasting 4.3 million followers on TikTok and 4.1 million on Instagram, she attended the Met Gala, joined rapper Megan Thee Stallion on stage at her present in Chicago and was in a music video with rappers Cardi B and Latto. Her on-court dominance and off-court aptitude boosted curiosity within the Sky, who additionally drafted fellow rookie frontcourt star Kamilla Cardoso out of South Carolina.
“By means of all of it, I’ve confirmed that I belong on this league even when nobody else believed,” Reese wrote in her publish. “All I’ve ever needed was to come back into the W and make an influence. I can confidently say I’ve achieved that and can try to maintain doing so.”
Reese added that she nonetheless intends to play in Unequalled, the brand new 3×3 league co-founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier that launches in January.
The Sky (12-22) are eighth within the standings and are hoping to snag the eighth and closing spot within the WNBA playoffs. However the second half of their season has been tumultuous. They’ve gone 2-8, the second-worst file within the league in that span, and have been with out high scorer Chennedy Carter for 5 complete video games. The Sky broke a seven-game shedding streak on Friday towards the Sparks in Carter’s first recreation again since Aug. 25.