Dream star forward Angel Reese voted WNBA defensive player of year

Atlanta Dream star forward Angel Reese was voted WNBA defensive player of the year Thursday, receiving 46 votes from 72 media members.

Golden State's Gabby Williams finished second with 20 votes and Las Vegas star A’ja Wilson was third. Wilson won the award in 2022 and 2023 and shared the honour with Minnesota's Alanna Smith last year.

Reese, a three-time all-star, helped the Dream advance to the WNBA semifinals for the first time since 2018 in her first year with the franchise.

Atlanta will host Game 1 of the semifinals on Sunday against New York, which swept Minnesota to become the first No. 8 seed to eliminate a No. 1 seed in the league’s 30-year history.

The 24-year-old Reese grabbed a league-high 12.1 rebounds a game, ranked third in the league with 1.8 steals a game in her third season and helped the Dream have the third-best defensive rating in the WNBA.

The six-foot-four forward broke single-season league records with 521 rebounds and 206 offensive rebounds and set a WNBA record with 26 rebounds in a game.

Reese spent the first two years of her career in Chicago before going to the Dream in an off-season trade. She flourished in her new surroundings, once again leading the league in rebounding and emerging as one of the top defenders in the WNBA.