The moment Angel Reese entered the WNBA she was its best rebounder in the league.
As a rookie with the Chicago Sky, she averaged a league-best 13.1 rebounds per game, and her sophomore campaign was more of the same, grabbing 12.6 per game, which was also the league high for 2025.
This season, her first with the Atlanta Dream, she has taken things up a notch, and that was on full display in Atlanta's 78-71 win against the Los Angeles Sparks.
Reese was a bully on the boards, pulling down a whopping 26 rebounds. That's the most rebounds anyone has ever had in a single game.
She is also now ahead of A'ja Wilson for the rebounding title. Reese has had the highest average for rebounds per game in her first two seasons, but Wilson has grabbed more total boards in both years. Now, Reese might add that rebounding title to her long list of accomplishments.
After the game , Angel spoke to Tina Charles, who was in studio with NBC, about her mentality when going after rebounds:
Anything that goes up is mine. You just gotta have that mindset.
Even when I watch you, and I play with you, you go up there, and you're so aggressive, and you're consistent every single night. That makes you one of the greatest players in this league. And I want to be one of those when I walk away from this game.
In the first quarter, Reese grabbed rebounds in every way imaginable.
She got an early defensive rebound on a Monique Akoa Makani miss. Reese followed that up by pulling down a board on a Dearica Hamby free throw and then grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds after getting rejected on back-to-back occasions by Cameron Brink.
Before, Reese's ability to grab those boards on her misses was weaponized against her; critics called them "mebounds" and used them as evidence that Reese wasn't a great rebounder, just a player with the ability to clean up her own mess.
It was always a ridiculous claim.
This criticism failed to address that, one, she can grab the board, and two, she can then score afterward. A rebound is only valuable on offense if it ultimately leads to points. And that's exactly what happened against Brink. Reese allowed the Dream to maintain possession, ultimately leading to a Rhyne Howard 3-pointer.
Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts also offered praise for Reese's prowess on the boards after the game, saying:
Eight offensive rebounds is a ton. I think she's the best in the world at it. I really do. Her timing is good. She's strong. She's got great physicality, but she knows how to kind of lean to kind of get you out of position to where you can now jump and do it. She does a good job tipping it kind of to herself. She's good.
Could we have done a better job? Certainly, but you also have to tip your hat to who I think is one of the best rebounders in the world.
Like water eroding a rock, it took a while before it was obvious that Reese was having a special night. After all, she's the league-best rebounder, so grabbing half a dozen in the first quarter is impressive, but unsurprising.
As the game remained a close contest, her dominance and ability to tip things in Atlanta's favor became clearer.
The 50-50 balls between Resse and Nneka Ogwumike or Hamby always went Angel's way. When she crashed the rim uninterrupted or grabbed a long rebound, it may have appeared that grabbing these boards was lucky, or that she just happened to be near the ball.
However, every movement by Reese is intentional. She knows how to position herself on both sides of the court so that she's always a threat on the glass.
In the fourth, Reese put the game out of reach. She played all 10 minutes and dominated despite only scoring three points. Reese had nine rebounds in the frame, which was more than the entire LA team had in the closing quarter.
The history-setting rebound by Reese was routine. She walked down from the elbow to the restricted area, uninterrupted, and picked up an Erica Wheeler miss.
That's the beauty in Reese's game; it may not shock and awe like a no-look pass from Olivia Miles or a deep 3-pointer by Caitlin Clark, but it's just as dominant. And even in the most physical league in the world, where the big remains queen, Reese is a rebounding goddess in a class of her own.
Reese has accomplished a lot in just three years in the WNBA, but one thing is missing from her resume: postseason play. That will change this year, as the Dream have already clinched a playoff berth and remain a half-game ahead of the Indiana Fever for the No. 4 seed.
With Atlanta on a four-game winning streak, the longest current streak in the WNBA, and Reese playing her best basketball of the year, that's a potent combo that no opponent is going to relish facing in late September and beyond.
Thanks to her incredible play throughout a four-game road trip that Atlanta finished undefeated, Reese was named the WNBA Player of the Week for the Eastern Conference.
How Reese impacts the game might look different from other superstars, but there are many ways to give a team an advantage that leads to victory.
Reese does that night in and night out, ensuring Atlanta will consistently win the battle of the boards. And with more games like come playoff time, she'll have a shot of adding a ring to her finger.
