Since the beginning of the 2024 regular season, the Rookie of the Year title has been highly anticipated by many. Despite having multiple players on the list, the race ultimately came down to Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. Though they mentioned on multiple occasions that they weren’t playing for individual accolades, the competition between them remained intense. Now that the regular season has ended, so has the ROTY race—and guess what? Caitlin Clark won the title. Although Reese didn’t win, she seems to wear her confidence well.

On September 27th, hours after the ROTY announcement, Angel Reese took to Instagram to post a story of herself. The Chi-Town Barbie was dressed in a Channel bralette, a silver chain, and had a very subtle smile on her face. After a roller coaster of emotions yesterday, addressing the extreme hatred and narratives presented by all but her, right before the emotional firing of coach Teresa Weatherspoon, the Chicago Sky star looked rather calm.

Her debut season had not been a smooth sail. Ever since she entered the WNBA as the No. 7 draft pick, she faced extreme criticism for being a rival of Caitlin Clark. Despite receiving tons of accolades and even leading the league in rebounding, her skills were doubted. Just when she was about to prove her worth by making it to the playoffs, bad luck struck again.

When she fell on her left wrist, her rookie season came to an abrupt end. It was devastating. A hairline fracture cost her the remaining few games of the season—right when the team needed her the most. As of now, she’s resting for six weeks and is scheduled to make a comeback in January 2025. But until then, she has found a blessing in disguise.

It’s her voice

The Chicago Sky was shaken by a long list of injured players on its roster. What else would you expect? The Sky lost the race to the playoffs, a failure that came at a hefty price. Little did they know, it would also lead to the firing of the beloved head coach, Teresa Weatherspoon. As soon as Reese found out, she was “heartbroken.”

“I’m literally lost for words knowing what this woman meant to me at such a pivotal point in my life. She was the only person who believed in me. The one who trusted me,” read a statement by Reese. This came just a couple of minutes after her bold take on a few fans, where she mentioned her previous remark on willing to “take the villain role” if it meant advancing the growth of women’s basketball. However, as this approach “backfired on her,” she voiced her thoughts again:

“This isn’t okay at all. Anything beyond criticism about playing the game we love is wrong. I’m sorry to all the players that have, and continue to, experience the same things I have,” she added in a statement. To counter this issue, she has started her own podcast, ‘Unapologetically Angel.’

“To take my voice back and create the narrative of who I really am. At the end of the day, I don’t want an apology, nor do I think this will ever stop, but something has to change,” added Angel. Just a few hours later, Clark was declared ROTY. This meant Reese lost the race she had been preparing for since the beginning of the season, but she still seems unfazed.