'Most improved player' Angel Reese unlocking new parts of her game, becoming an even bigger force

When the Atlanta Dream traded for Angel Reese from the Chicago Sky prior to the 2026 season, they had some idea as to the type of player they were getting.

They knew she was a big name in the league.

They knew she was a rebounding machine and one of the league's best lockdown defenders. 

They also had to know there were still some aspects of her game that she needed to build on to become a more complete player and unlock her full potential. 

Most of those improvements were related to her offensive game. 

She is not only doing it, but she is doing it in the biggest games of the season and on the biggest stage. She is one of the biggest reasons the Dream have a 2-1 lead in the WNBA Finals over the Golden State Valkyries, and are two wins away from their first championship.

Angel Reese is unlocking new parts of her game, and it is turning her into a force

The biggest criticism of Reese's game over the first two years of her career always revolved around her play with the ball, and her consistency as an offensive player.

It wasn't necessarily the point production (she routinely averaged a double-double and was consistently over 13 or 14 points per game), but more about the efficiency and consistency that led to the production.

When looking at her full-season numbers, both in terms of points and shot-making, there really isn't a huge jump that stands out. But if you break the season down into segments and look at the progress throughout the season and into the playoffs, the improvement becomes hard to miss.

Dream head coach Karl Smesko said on Thursday that she has taken improving her game seriously and that she "might be the most improved player" in the league from the start of the season until now.

"She's taken it very seriously," Smesko said, via ESPN's Alexa Philippou. "I give Angel a lot of credit. She was a great player when we traded for her. ... She has been very motivated to become the best basketball player that she can possibly become, and you can see the results of that hard work."

Just looking at her performance from the start of the postseason, she is averaging 19.4 points per game, and has seen that number improve even more in the first three games of the Finals, going up to 21.7 points per game.

She is also shooting 48.1% from the floor in the postseason (up from a 43.4% mark in the regular season for her career), and has made 47.1% of her three-point shots (after being a sub 20% shooter over her career).

More detailed numbers her progression throughout the season, via ESPN:

"Reese shot 45% in the paint in Atlanta's first 21 games of the season — in which the Dream were a meager 12-9 — but has converted 51% of such shots in the games since, including the playoffs. The Dream have won 25 of 30 games in that span.

"Per GeniusIQ, Reese's qSI — a stat measuring effective field goal percentage minus the expected effective field goal percentage on the shot — has jumped from -3.6 before the FIBA World Cup break (meaning her effective field-goal percentage was 3.6% worse than expected) to 6.0 since then."

Something to keep in mind about those numbers post-FIBA World Cup: Atlanta is 11-1 in those games, including playoffs. 

Reese is playing a key role in all of that success.

The defensive game and rebounding have always been there for her, and she is as relentless in both areas as she has always been. You need players like that to win. But when you take that and combine it with a rapidly improving offensive game, you are starting to get into a top-tier, elite-level player. If Atlanta wins two more games and completes this championship run, Reese is almost certainly going to be the MVP of the playoff run. 

It is also important to keep in mind she is still only in her third year in the league. She is still, in theory, just entering her prime years and becoming a complete player. The Dream have to love what they are seeing with all of it.