After being selected seventh overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft, Angel Reese emerged as the second-best recruit in her class behind Caitlin Clark. She instantly became the league’s leading rebounder and a double-double machine. But if there’s one thing to complain about her game, it’s her touch to the basket.
Reese is by far the worst player in the WNBA when it comes to converting layups. Her 43.8% shooting percentage from within 5 feet looks bad. Video of some of her recent misses makes it even worse. She missed one of the worst layups of the season last week.
We know Reese’s finishing is bad, but how bad is it? Here’s what the numbers say.
Angel Reese is historically bad at finishing layups
The league average on shots from inside 5 feet this season is 59.6 percent. No one is coming close to Reese’s 43.8 percent on those shots this season.
A shooting percentage below 44% on shots from 5 feet is obviously unacceptable. Diana Taurasi is more likely to make a shot from 25 feet this season (45.2%) than Reese is to make a layup.
What makes Reese’s lack of finishing even more problematic is that she’s making so many field goals, and she leads the league by far with 274 field goal attempts. If she were just a little bit better, the Sky’s No. 9 offense would see a dramatic improvement.
It’s not like Reese has a great jump shot to make up for her lack of interior play, either. She’s shooting just 31 percent from mid-range and 18 percent from three-point range this season. There are some desperate misses there, too.
You can’t just give Angel Reese such open looks. pic.twitter.com/JXoT4qTJcs
— My God! (@HeavensFX) August 25, 2024
If Reese wants to be a good offensive player, she has to make layups. There’s reason to hope she can improve. She’s still in her rookie year, and plenty of other All-Stars have been poor shooters before becoming great finishers later in their careers.
Reese’s lack of finishing shouldn’t hurt her prodigious rebounding either. Even if you took away all the rebounds she got on her own misses, she’d still be the league’s top offensive rebounder.
Reese has a legitimate shot at becoming the league’s all-time leading rebounder, thanks to her tremendous effort under the rebound. On Sunday, she became the only WNBA player to record three consecutive 20-plus rebound games. She needs to work on her finishing, though. It’s a legitimate flaw that’s holding her back from her potential for greatness.
