Chicago Sky and Rose Basketball Club forward Angel Reese was one of three players to earn a spot on the All-Unrivaled Second Team, the league announced in a Thursday tweet. She joined guards Rhyne Howard and Skylar Diggins-Smith, who carved out memorable scoring seasons for the Vinyl and Lunar Owls, respectively.
Reese and the Rose Basketball Club will face off against the Laces at 7:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday in the inaugural Unrivaled playoffs. The Rose pushed their way up to an 8-6 record and a second-place spot in the league's standings following a slow start to their 2025 campaign. They capped off their first regular season with a dominant 74-46 victory over Howard and the Vinyl.
Guard Chelsea Gray, a leader for the Rose and a fantastic guard pairing with Reese, ended the game with 33 points and four assists. The All-Unrivaled First-Team selection will be an important player to look out for in the Unrivaled playoffs as the Rose face off against Kayla McBride and the Laces, who are 1-2 against the Rose and 7-7 overall.
Is Reese poised for a breakout season?
Even in a different format, Reese proved she can roll with the best of them on the boards against some of the top talent the WNBA had to offer.
Reese ended Unrivaled's inaugural regular season with averages of 13.1 points, 12.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. The Chicago All-Star was one of four players to average a double-double, carrying over the excellence on the boards she showed during her first season with the Sky. She led Unrivaled with nearly 170 rebounds, placing ahead of both of the league's founders in Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart. Her efforts on the boards helped the Rose become the league's top rebounding team with an average of 37.4 per game.
Reese will be surrounded by an almost completely new cast of guard talent during the Sky's 2025 season. The WNBA's 2024 rebounding peak performer will be paired with a fantastic passing guard in Courtney Vandersloot, who can up Reese's game in the pick-and-roll if she can make the same reads she has with the Sky in the past. Ariel Atkins can only add to the team's veteran leadership as a sharpshooter and defensive specialist. If Reese can continue to improve on offense as she has in her Unrivaled run, she could be on the verge of a breakout season with the Sky as the team went all-in on being as competitive as they can as soon as possible.