Las Vegas Aces star and WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson shared her thoughts on Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese, giving her great praise and comparing her to her younger self. The two players were featured in a recent report by The Wall Street Journal, in which they reflected on her careers and the league’s growth in the past year.
Asked about how it has been playing Reese, Wilson admitted that she has been following her during her whole college career. “My good friend actually was coaching her at that time, so that’s how I honestly started to follow Angel, and I saw a little bit of myself in her,” she said on a video shared by the WSJ.
“No matter what I do, I’m gonna make sure that I go all out and I give it 100 percent. And I saw that, just the motor that she has, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, that is young A’ja 100 percent,’” she explained. “But for her to want to, after all these years, to still rebound the basketball, it’s something that is really her and true to her. I hope she never loses that,” she added.
The numbers support Wilson’s opinion. In her 34 starts, Reese averaged 13.6 points and 13.1 rebounds per game (1st in the WNBA). The only player to finish the regular season with a double-digit rebounding average was, precisely, Wilson: 26.9 points and 11.9 rebounds.
A’ja Wilson #22 of the Las Vegas Aces and Angel Reese #5 of the Chicago Sky battle for a rebound (Candice Ward/Getty Images)
In her college career, Reese won a national championship with LSU and she was selected as No. 7 overall pick by the Chicago Sky in the 2024 WNBA draft. Her rivalry with Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark rivalry has become one of the biggest talking points of the season, as they both drew more viewers to the league.
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Wilson reacts to WNBA’s rising popularity
While the WSJ’s article has been criticized by fans for only mentioning Caitlin Clark once, as the Indiana Fever’s guard has been credited as one of the reasons for the league’s popularity, Wilson said that she is enjoying the attention.
“It’s just been fun. Whether it’s the constant chatter on social or just the competition level is rising within our league, but I feel like we were also in a space where it was like, ‘Okay, it’s about time everyone got on this train.’ Like, we’ve been shouting from the rooftops this whole time,” she told the WSJ.
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Sky star Angel Reese shares how she handles comparisons to Fever's Caitlin Clark
“I’m loving it but I also pray that it’s to stay, that people are genuinely wanting to invest into players,into teams, into just the ways that we live ’cause we’re bigger than just basketball players and I think that goes a long way. So it’s been tons of fun playing in it in this league always. But definitely this year is probably, I’ve had the most fun,” she concluded.
Las Vegas Aces lost in the semifinals to Liberty
While A’ja Wilson won unanimously the 2024 WNBA MVP, she wasn’t enough to help the Las Vegas Aces to a third consecutive WNBA championship. The Aces were eliminated by New York Liberty in the semifinals, with New York having their revenge as they lost last year’s finals.
Currently, New York are up 2-1 in the best-of-five series against the Minnesota Lynx. If they win the fourth game (Sunday, Oct. 20th, 8:00 PM ET) the Liberty will win their first ever WNBA championship.
