Angel Reese officially has some serious hardware.
The Atlanta Dream star has been named the 2026 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first player in franchise history to win the award. Reese received 46 of 74 votes, comfortably finishing ahead of Gabby Williams and A’ja Wilson.
And the numbers make it difficult to argue.
In her first season with Atlanta, Reese led the WNBA with 12.1 rebounds per game while finishing third with 1.8 steals per game. She also broke the WNBA single-season record with 521 total rebounds and became the first player in league history to grab 500 rebounds in one season.
But this wasn’t just about piling up rebounds.
Reese finished first in the WNBA in Defensive Win Shares at 3.39, and Atlanta allowed 7.9 fewer points per 100 possessions with her on the floor. The Dream finished third in defensive rating and allowed a league-low 9.5 second-chance points per game.
Reese has been one of the most talked-about players in women’s basketball since entering the league, but this season she backed up the attention with arguably her biggest individual accomplishment yet.
Angel Reese said the Defensive Player of the Year was in Atlanta. Now she has the trophy to prove it.
