If Angel Reese Is So Good, Why Did The Chicago Sky Trade Her To Atlanta?

A blockbuster WNBA trade (bet you never thought you'd read that phrase on OutKick) took place on Monday with the Chicago Sky sending forward Angel Reese to the Atlanta Dream for two first-round draft picks. The sports media has spent the past several years (dating back to her LSU days) trying to convince everyone that Reese is every bit as valuable and talented as Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark, which is why this trade deals a huge blow to that narrative. 

As I've documented many times throughout Reese's first two seasons in the WNBA, she's an OK player. She's not bad, but she's not great either. She's a two-time All-Star who averages 14.1 points and 12.9 rebounds per game through two seasons. But those are a little misleading. 

Reese is a career 42% shooter from the field, which is terrible for a forward who takes most of her shots near the basket. She also averages nearly 12 FG attempts per game, so the points are more a reflection of volume over efficiency. And, of course, she gets a lot of her rebounds after missing layups. She gets so many of those that social media users started calling them "mebounds." 

Angel Reese was traded from the Chicago Sky to the Atlanta Dream for 2027 and 2028 first-round picks, reigniting debate over her true superstar status in the WNBA.

(Kamil Krzaczynski/Imagn Images)

But the real problem is that the media tries to convince everyone that she's a legitimate superstar. Part of being a superstar is name recognition (which Reese definitely has, perhaps as much as anyone in the league not named Caitlin Clark) but the other part is actual talent. That's where Reese lacks. 

The fact that the Sky would trade a soon-to-be-24-year-old, who they picked with the 7th overall selection in the 2024 WNBA Draft, tells you what they think of Reese. In any sport, it's generally bad business to trade young, budding superstars. If Reese were as talented as the media says she is, the Sky would build around her, not ship her off to another team. 

Now, there's another possibility. I admit that I am not a WNBA insider (far from it). It's possible that Reese demanded a trade from Chicago. But that's not much better, honestly. If that's the case, then you have a young player who's already disgruntled and demanding a change of scenery. That doesn't bode well for her future, either. Even if she was disgruntled, it would still behoove Chicago to try and make her happy if she provided as much value to the team as people claim. 

The point is that it's unlikely that the Sky would trade Reese unless one of two things is true: 1. The team doesn't think she's good enough to deal with the outside headaches or 2. Reese demanded a trade (further evidence that she's a locker room headache). 

Neither of those reasons looks good for Reese.