Angel Reese reveals secret motivation fueling her rebounding prowess with Dwyane Wade: "Why don't y'all box me out"

Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese sat down with former NBA star Dwyane Wade in the recent episode of her podcast, 'Unapologetically Angel'. During the episode, she revealed the motivation she has when it comes to snatching rebounds. The WNBA star also noted how fans have criticized her for her rebounding.

Reese is one of the promising young stars in the league. With her ability to score and dominate the glass, she's become an unstoppable force inside. The former LSU star is one of the top rebounders and even finished the 2024 season with the most rebounds in one game, at 22.

However, she's aware that people have talked about her rebounding and how it's the skill many criticize her for. Reese shared how she specifically decided to work on rebounding.

"I feel like I get critiqued a lot, obviously, because I do rebound and I do rebound in a great way and I play defense," Reese said. "Obviously, as a rookie, coming into the league, my mind was just like, 'Get a fresh start', like I did everything I want in college. I won a championship, I had the college experience of doing what I wanted.

"And when I came into the league, I just wanted to be able to grow. Luckily, I was really, really good at one specific thing, which was rebounding ... So many people critique me because I was a great rebounder and sometimes, 'Why don't y'all box me out? How come you don't box me out?' It's so tough to see that.

With that mentality, Reese averaged 13.1 rebounds in her rookie year. She also racked up 446 total boards, placing her second, behind A'ja Wilson.

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Fans react to Angel Reese's comments about getting criticized for her rebounding

While Angel Reese believes that people criticize her for her rebounding, some fans disagree. Some of the fans who left comments on the post, where she spoke about rebounding, criticized her for being unable to finish layups.

Here are some of what the fans said.

"Missing layups and getting your own offensive rebounds is not impressive," one fan said.

"No one calling her out for rebounding, we calling her out for being inefficient when majority of the shots are layups," another fan said.

"Rebounding is literally the one thing no one criticizes her for. It’s the missed layups," a fan said.

Reese attempted 321 shots from areas less than five feet from the basket and made 44.5%. However, from 5-9 feet, the rookie only shot 11.1% of her 36 attempts.

Angel Reese has the entire offseason to work on how better she'll be in making baskets.