The Chicago Sky took the L when they traded Angel Reese to the Atlanta Dream on April 6. Two and a half months later, the Dream are one of the best teams in the WNBA and Reese is putting up borderline All-Star numbers.
The trade itself looked simple at the time. Chicago sent Reese to Atlanta for two first-round picks, a 2027 and a 2028, plus 2028 second-round swap rights. The Sky framed it as a roster balance move, with general manager Jeff Pagliocca saying the deal “represented a great opportunity for all parties.”
Half of that turned out to be true. The Atlanta half.
Reese is averaging 12.8 points, 11.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game. Those are starting-caliber numbers across the board, and the rebounding rate puts her in the conversation for the WNBA’s best on the glass. Pair her with the rest of the Dream’s young core, and Atlanta opened the season 4-1, the best start in the league.
Chicago, meanwhile, has been a disaster. The Sky have lost the locker room, the front office’s plan is unclear, and the picks they got back from Atlanta are years away from helping. Pagliocca’s public message about roster balance has aged like cottage cheese.
The thing nobody told the Sky front office is that Angel Reese is the kind of player who fits anywhere. She is not a one-trick scorer who needs the offense built around her. She is a relentless rebounder, a smart passer for a big, and a defensive presence who fills in the gaps a roster needs. Trading her was always going to require getting back a star or stars in return. Two future first-rounders, even good ones, do not move the needle in a league where the talent gap is wider than ever.
Reese herself is enjoying the move. She has been vocal about the fresh start, the Atlanta culture, and the chance to play for a coaching staff that wants to use her in a more dynamic role than the Sky offense allowed. That is a player flourishing in a new environment, not a disgruntled star sulking through a trade.
Her mom famously could not even find an Atlanta Dream jersey in time for the first game. The merch shortage tells you everything about how unprepared the WNBA was for the trade and how quickly fans rebounded to support her in the new city.
The Dream are now positioned to make a real playoff run. The Eastern Conference is wide open behind the Indiana Fever and the New York Liberty, and Atlanta has the kind of front-court depth and perimeter playmaking that travels well in the postseason. Reese’s rebounding alone is worth a couple of wins a month in a league where possessions are a premium.
For Chicago, the rebuild is real and long. The Sky have to develop their young core, hope the picks they got from Atlanta hit, and play the kind of patient front-office game that does not produce results for two or three years. That is a hard sell to a fan base that watched the franchise win a title in 2021 and has been on a slow decline ever since.
The Reese trade is going to be the case study every WNBA front office references for the next five years. You do not move a 22-year-old All-Star caliber player for future picks unless you are absolutely certain the picks are home runs. Chicago was not certain. Atlanta is reaping the reward.
Reese is gone. The Sky are not getting her back. The Dream are going to ride her as long as the team is healthy. The 2026 WNBA season has a new contender, and the Sky are watching it from home.
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.
