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5-Time WNBA All-Star Takes Exception to Angel Reese’s Physical Gesture

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Reign Amurao | Last updated May 27, 2025 11:57 PM ET

The Phoenix Mercury hosted Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky on Tuesday. It's the first matchup between the two teams for the 2025 WNBA season.

At the start of the first quarter, things got a bit physical between Reese and Mercury's veteran star, Alyssa Thomas.

In the middle of the first quarter, the score was close, as Chicago had the lead on Phoenix, 11-10. During a transition play for Sky, Reese drew a foul on the five-time All-Star by standing at the top of the key.

She initiated it successfully as Thomas was caught off guard and was called for the foul. However, the veteran player didn't like the contact and grabbed Reese's jersey as she fell to the floor.

Fortunately for the Mercury and the Sky, things did not escalate. The two stars did not interact after the sequence.

Angel Reese catches Alyssa Thomas with a solid screen! AT grabs Angel’s jersey on the way down and gets called for the foul pic.twitter.com/sGDdnhgGc3
— HoopHer (@HoopHerSpeaks) May 28, 2025

Before the contest, Sky head coach Tyler Marsh drew a comparison between the two forwards. According to Marsh, he sees plenty of similarities in their game.

"I think that there's a lot of similarities there from a young Angel to where (Alyssa Thomas) is," Marsh said. "In terms of style of play, yeah, I think she's someone that Angel can continue to emulate and embody and look up to in terms of how she utilizes her versatility from rebounding to facilitating to scoring to playing defense, so there's a lot of good characteristics."

Interestingly, the two players shared a bit of history last year. During their first matchup, Thomas committed a foul on the first-year player. At that time, the six-time All-Defensive was with the Connecticut Sun.

Following their encounter, Thomas was ejected from the game.