Chicago Sky Veteran Offers Angel Reese Words of Wisdom Amid Noise

Despite only having played one full WNBA season, Chicago Sky star Angel Reese is already one of the sport's biggest stars. This is owed to the massive platform that Reese accrued during her time playing for the LSU Tigers in college, which carried over to the professional game.

Of course, Reese's skyrocket to stardom is in part because of her long-standing rivalry with beloved Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark. This rivalry has pitted Clark and Reese against each other, making them both the subject of scrutiny that no other women's basketball player has ever had to face.

This can be taxing on a 23-year-old. And during an interview with Sportskeeda from May 29, Sky veteran guard Courtney Vandersloot got honest about Angel dealing with fan criticism.

"I think the biggest thing with Angel is that I don't think a lot of people can relate — I definitely can't — to the weight she carries on the day-to-day and the pressure that she deals with from the outside noise and the expectations with herself and how good and great she wants to be," Vandersloot said.

"For me, I just want her to know that I always have her back. It doesn't have to be perfect. I'm always going to ride for her and let her know, 'We need you. We need you to be great. But we also don't want to put too much on you.'

"'You should be enjoying this because you get to play basketball for a living,'" she concluded.