ATLANTA — The last time the Sky were in Atlanta in mid-July, there was at least a glimmer of hope in the trade that sent Angel Reese to the Dream for first-round picks in 2027 and 2028.
The Dream were slumping and had recently fallen as low as seventh in the standings. That meant the value of the Sky’s 2027 pick was rising, and maybe Reese wasn’t the missing piece Atlanta needed to reach the WNBA Finals after all.
With a week remaining in the regular season, all of that has gone out the window.
The Dream are now preparing for a championship run as top 4 team. And not only has Reese been their most consistent player, averaging 16.5 points, 12.4 rebounds and 1.8 steals, but she’s even in the conversation for her first All-WNBA selection.
She reminded the Sky of that Saturday night, leading the Dream to a 25-point rout.
Meanwhile, the Sky’s big roster revamp, headlined by the Reese trade, once again has them on the outside of the playoff picture.
A tough pill to swallow, especially since they don’t own their own 2027 pick and the one they’ll get from the Dream is likely to land late in the first round.
There is, at least, a caveat for Sky fans.
From a big picture perspective, this past offseason wasn’t really about swapping Reese for draft picks. It was swapping Reese for Rickea Jackson as the new face of the franchise. Jackson’s promising start lasted only four games before she tore her ACL.
So the final judgment on the Reese trade will have to include Jackson. Does she have a chance to become as good a player as Reese? Maybe. She’s already the better shot-creator and oozes talent and athleticism. After all, she was drafted three spots ahead of Reese in 2024, at No. 4.
But Jackson never totally proved herself during her first two years in Los Angeles, nor did she get the chance to in Chicago this season.
Reese already has, and then some.
She’s now a three-time All-Star, fresh off winning gold at the FIBA World Cup. She entered the league as a historically gifted rebounder and has quickly become one of its best defenders.
When asked to make Reese’s case for first-team All-Defensive honors, Dream coach Karl Smesko was shocked that anyone would need to hear it.
According to Smesko, all the advanced metrics point in favor of Reese. And if fancy statistics aren’t your thing, just watch her defend the pick-and-roll. At 6’3, she can both protect the rim and wreak havoc for guards, picking off their passes or slapping the ball out from under them.
“Case closed,” Smesko said.
Reese has always defended the pick-and-roll well because of her length, athleticism and instincts. But she said Smesko’s emphasis on technique — knowing when to crowd her player and when to drop back — has taken her to another level this season.
The only question in Smesko’s mind is whether she’ll be Defensive Player of the Year.
The Sky don’t have anyone in the All-Defensive conversation, much less the one for DPOY. Their team defense hasn’t been terrible this season; they rank eighth in defensive efficiency. But serious defenses in the WNBA need serious rim protection, and neither starting big, Kamilla Cardoso nor Azurá Stevens, has been physical enough around the rim.
Could Jackson help change that? She came into training camp sounding motivated to turn over a new leaf defensively, but it has never been her forte, and players don’t become elite defenders overnight.
Reese, by contrast, has been calling her shot since she was a rookie in Chicago. Defensive Player of the Year is where she has always believed she’s headed.
Sending a star with that kind of mindset out of town still stings.