Angel Reese earns second straight All-Star nod

Angel Reese is an All-Star for the second straight year.

The Sky forward was selected by the league’s head coaches as one of 12 reserves for the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game, which will be held July 19 in Indianapolis. She’s the only Sky player named to the list.

Reese is averaging a double-double, leads the league in rebounding with 12.6 per game and ranks third among forwards with 3.8 assists.

And she’s done it while acknowledging that the early part of the season was a struggle.

She set a goal to improve her layup percentage — which was below 50% as a rookie — but her efficiency actually got worse to start the year. She felt like she was going through a “storm,” but she didn’t panic. Over the last nine games, she’s shot 58% at the rim, more in line with players of her caliber.

Even during that early stretch, her motor kept the team moving.

“She just loves the energy of the game,” Sky guard Ariel Atkins told the Sun-Times. “She likes to compete. She likes to be the top dog.”

And she sets rebounding records like clockwork. She cracked the top 10 in Sky franchise history in rebounds as a sophomore. She became the first player in league history with four straight games of 15 or more rebounds. And she was the fastest ever to reach 500 points and 500 rebounds, beating one of her mentors, Tina Charles.

“You can get caught up in the numbers, but it’s the little things she does that don’t get noticed,” head coach Tyler Marsh said after Reese scored a season-high 24 points against the Sparks. “Her ability to relieve pressure while handling. Her ability to push in transition. Players with that kind of responsibility — you trust them.”

In other words: what makes Reese special isn’t any one thing, it’s the sheer number of things she can do over the course of a game.

Capitalizing on that versatility has been Marsh’s most creative project this season.

“Coming into this job, I don’t know how much more film I could have watched on Angel,” Marsh said. “Her days back in Maryland to LSU and even in high school — with her ability to be in different positions — you’re seeing that now.”

His vision came to life in a signature performance for Reese in Connecticut. Reese recorded the first triple-double of her career, and the first for the Sky since now-Lynx guard Courtney Williams in 2023. That game showed exactly how central Reese could be to the Sky’s future, though Marsh is quick to remind that it’s still a process.

Joining Reese as All-Star reserves are: Storm's Skylar Diggins, Mercury's Alyssa Thomas Sparks’ Kelsey Plum, Aces’ Jackie Young, Mystics’ Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen, Valkyries’ Kayla Thornton, Storm’s Gabby Williams, Dream’s Rhyne Howard, Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell and Lynx’s Courtney Williams.

All-Star captains Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier will draft rosters from the pool of starters and reserves on Tuesday, July 8.