Sky rookie Angel Reese remains grounded after earning 7th most All-Star votes

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CHICAGO - The popularity surrounding the Chicago Sky's 2024 WNBA Draft Class reached new heights last week.

Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso ranked seventh and 12th in the WNBA in the first return in the 2024 WNBA All-Star voting.

Reese, who earned 118,949 votes, has not taken the votes for granted. It was something that kept her grounded, as she knows an All-Star spot won't be gifted to her.

"My individual accolades are going to come, so I just let them come and let them flow," Reese said before the Sky hosted the Fever on Sunday. I'm happy people love me and want to vote for me to be an All-Star, but I'm gonna have to earn it."

Reese has certainly earned the votes.

Going beyond her popularity as a player, Reese is second in the WNBA with an average of 10.8 rebounds per game, first in the league with an average of 4.9 rebounds per game and fourth in the league with 151 total rebounds.

Reese is also second among all rookies with 12.4 points per game, trailing only Clark. As Reese improves, that points per game average will only improve.

"She's elite at what she does, and then she's growing around the rim," Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon said. "She's growing around the rim of how to finish against these incredible post players that she's playing against the veterans that they are, the savviness that they have, the strength and power and experience that they have, and she's learning and she's learning quickly."

Angel Reese, Chicago Sky, waves as she walk toward her mother and brother after the Sky beat the Washington Mystics in a WNBA Commissioner's Cup game at Capital One Arena. Reese, a rookie, is a Randallstown, Maryland, native. (Kim Hairston/Baltimore

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It goes beyond Reese's output as a rookie, too. The coaching staff knows she's improving as she gets more reps at the professional level.

"Every time that she steps on the floor, she proves herself," Weatherspoon said. "She's getting better. She does things that's incredible. You look at her, you see the way that she rebounds the basketball, that's all-star status."

Reese has also made history. She's recorded eight double-doubles in a row, which is a WNBA rookie record.

It's impressive considering that happens in 40 minutes of game time, compared to the 48 minutes of game time the NBA has.

"She has what it takes to be an all-star," Weatherspoon said. "She performs like one."

Reese also knows it's more than just her. Cardoso, who got 75,513 All-Star votes, is part of the paradigm shift in women's basketball that's skyrocketing the sport's popularity.

"I'm so happy for Camilla because she didn't even get to play a lot of their first couple games," Reese said. "Being able to have her confidence back, being able to have her out there, I mean, as you can see the duo is forming and just continue to play together. We're going to build more chemistry."

One example is in the votes themselves.

In 2023, the player leading the all-star vote was the Las Vegas Aces' A'ja Wilson who had 95,860 votes.

That was the entire vote, too. Reese eclipsed that vote count at seventh overall inthe first returns of 2024, and Wilson more than doubled that count with a league-leading 217,773 votes.

"I work hard every day," Reese said. "Just trying to do what I can."