Angel Reese Just Set a Dream Franchise Record and She’s Not Done. The WNBA Should Be Nervous.
Angel Reese has been doubted since her college days at LSU, doubted the day she was drafted, and doubted again when Atlanta traded for her back in April. On Monday, she added another line to the resume that says, out loud, the doubters have been wrong for a while now.
Reese dropped 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting and pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds in Atlanta’s 107-95 win over the Toronto Tempo at Gateway Center. That double-double, her 22nd of the season, set a new Dream single-season franchise record. She still has a big chunk of the schedule left.
She even hit a three, which is a nice reminder that Reese has quietly extended her game this year.
The context matters
Reese entered this season with a specific bucket of criticism attached to her. Not enough scoring. Not enough polish. All rebounding, all noise. Some of it was fair, most of it was overblown. What is not up for debate is that she has answered a lot of it. She is averaging 15.8 points and 11.9 rebounds per game this year. Those are legitimate All-Star numbers, and she has been named one three times now.
Atlanta acquired her from Chicago in the offseason for a reason. The Sky was rebuilding, Reese wanted a bigger role in a bigger market, and the Dream needed a franchise piece to build around. Every one of those boxes got checked. Reese has taken over as the identity player in Atlanta, and the Dream have positioned themselves as a real playoff team in the East because of it.
The Alyssa Thomas mark is next
Setting the franchise record is nice. Setting the league record would be historic. Alyssa Thomas holds the WNBA single-season double-doubles record with 28 from the 2023 season. Reese is at 22 with games left. She needs seven more to tie, eight to break it.
Is that realistic? Almost certainly, yes. Reese has been putting up a double-double in something like two-thirds of her games this year. If Atlanta plays even 12 more games, and she stays healthy, she is very likely to reach 28 and probably pass it. That is the kind of milestone that reframes a career.
What people forget with Reese is how young she still is. She is 23. Most players in the WNBA at her age are still finding their footing. She is already redefining what a modern power forward looks like, part rebounding force, part scorer, part social media magnet who drives ticket sales.
Why the WNBA needs this
The league is in a boom cycle. Ratings are up. Attendance is up. Investment is up. And Angel Reese, love her or hate her, is one of the reasons for that. Her rivalry with Caitlin Clark drives eyeballs. Her personality drives content. Her production, which is the only thing that actually matters long term, is finally catching up to the noise around her.
When a player like Reese starts setting franchise and league records, it validates the league’s marketing strategy of building around personality. It also validates Reese herself, who spent the last two years being told her stats were empty and her hype was undeserved.
Twenty-two double-doubles in one season is not empty. It is a franchise record. And she is not done yet.
The rest of the WNBA might want to take notes. If Reese keeps playing like this in Atlanta, the Dream are going to be a problem in the playoffs, and she is going to be at the front of the MVP conversation for years.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
