Angel Reese is the WNBA’s Defensive Player of the Year.
The Atlanta Dream forward received 46 of 74 votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters, the league announced Thursday, becoming the first player in franchise history to win the award. Golden State’s Gabby Williams finished second with 20 votes. Las Vegas star A’ja Wilson was third with four. Washington’s Shakira Austin received two, and Golden State’s Veronica Burton and Atlanta’s Rhyne Howard each received one.
It is the first Defensive Player of the Year honor of Reese’s career and the first for an Eastern Conference player since Sylvia Fowles won it with Chicago in 2013. Wilson, who won the award outright in 2022 and 2023 and shared it with Minnesota’s Alanna Smith in 2025, was a distant third in the voting.
Reese, 24 and in her third WNBA season, made the claim before the numbers caught up.
“I told my coaches earlier in the season I am going to be the Defensive Player of the Year,” Reese told ESPN. “I don’t know if it’s going to be this year, I don’t know if it’s going to be next year, but I’m challenging myself, and I want you guys to challenge me every day to be that. And here it is.”
The production matched the prediction. In her first season after an offseason trade from the Chicago Sky, Reese led the league in rebounding at 12.1 per game and finished third in steals at 1.8 per game (77 total). She became the first player in WNBA history to reach 500 rebounds in a season, finishing with a record 521, and set the single-season mark for offensive rebounds with 206. She also set the single-game rebounding record with 26 against the Los Angeles Sparks and the single-season record for double-doubles with 32. She averaged 16.4 points and was one of only two players in the league to post a double-double average.
The impact showed up in the margins. Atlanta allowed 7.9 fewer points per 100 possessions with Reese on the floor than with her off it, the second-best on/off differential among players who logged at least 500 minutes. She led the league in defensive win shares (3.39) and posted a 100.0 defensive rating. The Dream held opponents to a league-low 9.5 second-chance points per game and finished with one of the league’s best defensive ratings, tying a franchise record with 30 regular-season wins and claiming the top seed in the East.
Reese credited the group around her. Howard, Jordin Canada and Reese finished first, second and third in the league in steals.
“I have the trophy, but I definitely want Jordin and Rhyne to sign it because I think they deserve it just as much as I do,” Reese said. “I’m grateful for Atlanta, I’m grateful for my teammates and my coaches and all the supporting staff that supports us. This is just the beginning.”
The timing fits the moment. Reese helped Atlanta win its first playoff series since 2018, and the Dream host New York in Game 1 of the semifinals on Sunday — the franchise’s first trip to that round in eight years.
A three-time All-Star, Reese spent her first two seasons in Chicago before the move south. In one year with the Dream, she turned a personal challenge into a franchise first and the clearest individual defensive honor in the league.
