Angel Reese has been at the center of plenty of WNBA debates since she entered the league. Her scoring and the other areas where she still has room to grow have all been picked apart.

But there is one part of her game that is getting harder to argue with: rebounding.

Reese grabbed 26 boards in the Atlanta Dream’s 78-71 win over the Los Angeles Sparks, breaking a WNBA single-game record that had stood for more than 23 years. She finished with 18 defensive rebounds and eight offensive rebounds, along with 11 points, three assists, and three steals.

The wildest part came in the fourth quarter. Reese played all 10 minutes and pulled down nine rebounds — one more than the entire Sparks team had in the period. When Erica Wheeler missed late and Reese grabbed her 25th rebound to break the record, it wasn't some lucky bounce or chaotic scramble. Reese simply moved into position, found the ball and took it.

That's become the most predictable thing about watching her play. Everyone knows Reese is coming for the rebound, and she still keeps getting there first.

Reese Took Down Two Records In One Night

The previous single-game mark belonged to Chamique Holdsclaw, who grabbed 24 rebounds for the Washington Mystics against the Charlotte Sting on May 23rd, 2003. Holdsclaw finished with 22 points, 17 defensive rebounds and seven offensive rebounds in a 74-70 win. That record stuck around for more than two decades, surviving plenty of great WNBA bigs before Reese finally came along and took it.

And she didn’t just break one record that night.

Reese entered the game chasing A’ja Wilson’s 2024 single-season record of 451 rebounds. Her 20th rebound against Los Angeles gave her 452 with 7:47 left to play. She finished with 458 in her 37th game, passing a mark that took Wilson 38 games to set, and then kept adding to it. After two more double-doubles, Reese is now up to 485 rebounds through 39 games.

That number's ridiculous on its own, but the gap between Reese and everybody else makes it even more impressive. She leads the WNBA with 12.4 rebounds per game. Jessica Shepard's second at 11.1, and Wilson's sitting at 9.5. Reese is also averaging 5.1 offensive rebounds per game. Shepard, the league’s second-best rebounder overall, is at 2.8.

There are a lot of really good rebounders in this league. Reese is doing something different right now.

Sparks coach Lynne Roberts had every reason to be frustrated after watching Reese create eight extra possessions on the offensive glass. Instead, she explained what makes her so tough to keep off the glass: 

Angel Reese is unbelievable on the rebounds, and you can talk about it and you can watch it and you can drill it... There's no way to duplicate it to prepare. She's just elite, and, you know, her motor is so high, and I have a lot of respect for her as a competitor.

Reese’s explanation was much simpler:

Anything that goes up is mine.

This Has Been Her Skill From Day One

The 26-rebound game didn’t come out of nowhere. It was just the loudest possible reminder of what Reese has been doing since she entered the league: turning rebounding into a personal specialty and, now, into WNBA history.

She averaged 13.1 rebounds as a rookie in 2024, still the highest average for a first-year player in WNBA history. Reese grabbed a record 172 offensive rebounds that season, put together 28 straight games with at least 10 boards, and recorded 15 consecutive double-doubles.

Then she led the league again in 2025, averaging 12.6 rebounds per game. Now, in her first season with Atlanta, she’s on track to win a third straight rebounding title. She also became the fastest player in league history to reach 1,000 career rebounds, getting there in 79 games — 10 less than Tina Charles needed.

So, no, the easy explanation for her numbers doesn’t really work. Sure, Reese gets some of her own misses. That’s part of the deal. But she also had 18 defensive rebounds against Los Angeles. She beat Nneka Ogwumike and Dearica Hamby to loose balls and completely took over the fourth quarter.

Rebounding isn’t just about being tall and trying hard. Reese is 6-foot-4, but the WNBA has plenty of players who are her size or bigger. She reads the shot, gets her body into position early, and keeps fighting after the first bounce. A lot of players can make one strong effort. Reese keeps making them all game.

Calling it “hustle” doesn’t quite cover it. Hustle is part of it, obviously, but Reese has a real feel for where the ball's going and how to get there before everyone else. She makes rebounding look simple in the same way great scorers make difficult shots look routine.

Reese is 24 years old and just 103 games into her WNBA career. She already owns the league’s single-game and single-season rebounding records, the two best rebounding averages ever, and the fastest path to 1,000 career boards.

There’s still plenty to figure out about what else she’ll become. But on the glass, Reese isn’t waiting for history anymore. She’s already making it.

All stats courtesy of WNBA.com.

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