To call Angel Reese’s home debut with the Atlanta Dream underwhelming would be quite an understatement.
The third-year player, who referred to herself as a “great player” during a pre-game interview, found herself benched at the end of her team’s game against the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday. A game in which Reese shot just 1-8 from the field. A stat line that included several missed point-blank shots from the paint or right under the rim.
Reese even managed to lose a shoe during one of her ill-fated lay-up attempts.
Not only was she completely ineffective in shooting the ball, but she also led both teams with eight turnovers. In fact, Reese leads the WNBA in that dubious statistic.
How bad were the Dream when Reese was on the floor?
The team was actually -13 in her 29 minutes of game time. Meaning, the Dream were outscored by 13 when she was on the floor.
How good were they when she was off the floor? Glad you asked.
With the game slipping away, Atlanta head coach Karl Smesko benched Reese and her team rallied to nearly defeat the Aces, before losing 85-84.
In addition to her awful shooting stats (9-27 from the field), Reese also has 16 turnovers and 11 fouls on the season. Meaning, Reese actually has more fouls and turnovers than she has made field goals.
Perhaps even more concerning than those very troubling numbers is the fact that the Dream are -15 with her on the floor through three games. Atlanta had big plans for Reese when they traded for the former LSU player in the offseason, but it’s safe to say those plans did not include the team being worse when she’s on the floor.