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Angel Reese Had Heartfelt Moment With Sky Coach After WNBA All-Star Selection

Kristen Wong

Screengrab on Twitter/ @MsMeliss
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Tuesday was an emotional night for rookie Angel Reese, who capped off a big game in the Chicago Sky’s 85-77 win over the Atlanta Dream.

After putting up 12 points and 19 rebounds to log her 11th consecutive double-double, Reese talked about how she proved her doubters wrong by making the WNBA All-Star roster, which was released Tuesday.

She then got teary-eyed speaking about her coach Teresa Weatherspoon’s role in her up-and-coming journey in the WNBA ever since the Sky drafted Reese with the No. 7 pick in April.

“She’s meant everything to me,” Reese said of Weatherspoon before taking a pause to collect herself.

“Love you, kiddo,” Weatherspoon said, putting an arm around the rookie.

“I’ve had amazing coaches in my career but this one is special,” Reese continued. “She understands me off the court, she understands me on the court, she believes in me… Being able to come to the league and feel at home, I remember sitting at the computer and talking to her when I was going through the draft process. I was like, ‘Please, God, let me go to Chicago. Please, please, I don’t care where I drop to, let me go to Chicago.’ When you know that feeling, when you know someone loves you and believes in you not just as a basketball player but as a human being, it’s special.”

Reese is on pace to make unprecedented history in her first WNBA season and could soon surpass Candace Parker’s all-time record of 12 consecutive double-doubles, set between the 2009 and 2010 campaigns.

In the WNBA All-Star fan voting, fellow rookie Caitlin Clark topped the list with over 700,000 votes and received 80,000 more votes than the next player. However, Reese also cracked the top-five with 381,518 fan votes, sitting behind Clark, Aliyah Boston, A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart.

The 2024 All-Star Game between Team WNBA and Team USA will take place at the Footprint Center in Phoenix on July 20.

The Sky (7-11) will face the Seattle Storm on the road on Friday.

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Kristen Wong

KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a Staff Writer on the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI, Kristen covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. She has written about soccer, the NFL, NBA, and MLB since 2020, and outside of work, has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.

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