Angel Reese Sets WNBA Rebounding Record, But Fans Aren't Buying The Hype

Chicago Sky rookie forward Angel Reese has vaulted herself into the WNBA record books, and if you’ve followed her season at all, you can probably guess how she did it.

Reese is a rebounding machine, and that showed itself again in the Sky’s 79-74 Sunday afternoon loss to the Minnesota Lynx. She finished with another double-double (her 24th on the season), with 17 points and a gaudy 20 rebounds. One of her rebounds in the second quarter didn’t just get her team another possession, it gave her an astonishing 405 rebounds on the season (which means she’s averaging just under 13 a game).

With her 405th rebound, she became the WNBA’s all-time leader in rebounds in a single season - not just among rookies, but for everyone who has ever played in the league.

That’s incredible to say the least. With eight games left in the season, she’s got a chance to add a ton to her record.

But a lot of fans weren’t super convinced that Reese’s record was all that impressive. To be clear, she didn’t cheat at all to get those rebounds, but a lot of them come because she gets her own rebounds on her own missed layups - and there are a lot of them.

Reese has the worst shooting percentage from inside five feet in the entire league, which allows her to get so…many…boards. This sequence sheds insight on a significant portion of Reese’s record-setting total.

So while she objectively is a good rebounder outside these missed layups, it can also be true that she does benefit from being an awful layup shooter, which kind of makes the record less cool.

Fans were quick to point this out on social media.

At the end of the day, Reese’s record is still worth celebrating, but she definitely wouldn’t have gotten there this quickly if she hadn’t been so bad at making shots from five feet away.