’s latest playoff rankings put Angel Reese at No. 1, a clear nod to how much the 6-foot-3 forward has changed the postseason picture. The update comes with the WNBA Finals set to open Saturday, and Reese is now the face of a list built around the 15 players who have mattered most in the playoffs.
That rise is not built on reputation alone. Reese, the 2024 No. 7 draft pick and the league’s Defensive Player of the Year, is averaging 18.0 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.2 blocks, 2.0 assists and 1.6 steals in her first postseason, while shooting 38.5% from beyond the arc. Her scoring and blocks have both climbed in the playoffs, and that two-way jump is the biggest reason the Dream are in the Finals for the first time since 2013.
The ranking lands at a useful moment because the championship series now turns from debate to basketball. The No. 2 seed Golden State Valkyries and No. 4 Atlanta Dream meet in a best-of-seven series, with both clubs still chasing their first championship. ’s list is less a prediction than a snapshot of who has driven this run, and Reese sits at the center of it.
The top of the rankings also shows how crowded the rest of the field is. Naz Hillmon Williams is the highest scorer remaining, at 22.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game, while shooting 40.5% from 3 on 2.8 attempts. Howard has supplied 19.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists in the playoffs, and Canada has matched that scoring with 19.2 points while adding 8.8 assists. Burton has provided several of the Valkyries’ biggest shots when they needed a bucket most.
There is still a catch on the Dream side. Allisha Gray, one of the WNBA’s best when healthy, has been out since the first game of the semifinals after a hand injury, even as she said Thursday she was optimistic about playing in Game 1 at Chase Center in San Francisco. That leaves Reese’s surge carrying even more weight, because the Finals begin with the roster questions still unresolved and the series already tilted toward whichever team can turn a star’s form into four wins first.
