​’She’s a diva, she can’t shoot, she’s no Caitlin Clark’: Every Angel Reese narrative that has been proven false originally appeared on The Sporting News.
Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.Three years after being drafted and six months after being traded, Angel Reese is on the brink of a WNBA title.That likely won’t come as any surprise to the Dream star. She has backed herself to succeed at every step of her basketball career.Her detractors have argued otherwise. Reese was hardly a faultless prospect coming out of LSU. Nevertheless, she has found her niche and sticks to it, becoming one of the sport’s finest defenders and rebounders while adding new bows to her offensive quiver each season that she’s been in the league.The Defensive Player of the Year has taken pride in turning her naysayers into reluctant admirers.Here’s a look at each falsehood she has turned away across her budding career.MORE: Five key players not named Angel Reese that you need to know for WNBA FinalsEvery Angel Reese narrative that has been proven false’She’s a diva’This one is easy to dispel.Reese was draped with this misrepresentation during her collegiate career. It’s a tale rooted in racism, sexism and the intermingling histories of both. Reese, a confident Black woman, drew rancor for some for having the audacity to taunt Caitlin Clark during the 2023 national championship game. Her “you can’t see me” gesture — popularized by WWE star John Cena — was a reference to the one Clark pulled off weeks earlier when Iowa downed Louisville in the Elite Eight.Notably, the symbol — like the ring-finger celebration Reese directed towards Clark as the title game wound down — was benign, especially when compared to most male athletes’ expressions of joy. Nevertheless, Reese was ridiculed by social media users of a certain disposition.The portrayal of Reese as a “diva” doesn’t really align with the facts. Her skillset is underpinned by a motor like no other in the sport. She has a penchant for rebounds and deflections — the dirty work that basketball purists are purported to love more than anything else. She is a well-liked teammate and a player who embraces the spotlight, particularly when there’s a championship on the line.This characterization was lazy to begin with. In big 2026, it’s nothing more than noise from those who want to deny her ability to impact games on both ends of the floor.MORE: Sporting News projects Dream vs. Valkyries championship series’She can’t shoot’There was some truth in concerns over Reese’s ability to score at the WNBA level. While she hovered around 50 percent shooting during her collegiate career, Reese rarely made threes. She also struggled with her release points on layups, limiting her efficiency close to the rim.Those toils have followed Reese somewhat at the next level. She’s still a below-average shooter, posting a 52.1% true shooting rate in 2026, four percent lower than the league average.