Dream pairing: How Angel Reese and her new team brought out the best in each other to reach the WNBA Finals

Reese, who could be the first star of her generation to win a WNBA title, has changed her game with the Dream Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream currently sit just four games away from being crowned WNBA champions. It would be a franchise-first for the Dream, who joined the WNBA in 2008, and make Reese the first star of her generation to lead her team to a title. Things looked very different for both parties not so long ago. This time last year, then-Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese was sitting at home on her couch, watching the Finals from afar after missing the postseason in her first two years in the league.

About 700 miles south in Atlanta, the Dream were in soul-searching mode after the winningest regular season in Dream history ended in a postseason flameout. Reese's two years in Chicago had been marked by phenomenal individual play on the court and a sizeable economic impact to the franchise and community, both of which were often overshadowed by poor team play, perplexing roster decisions, coaching instability and front-office mismanagement. By the end of the 2025 season, when Reese gave an ill-advised on-the-record interview to the Chicago Tribune that threw shade on teammates and leadership (and the Sky responded by suspending her for half of a game), it was