Angel Reese's record-setting rookie year certainly has been a wild ride. It ended prematurely last week due to a broken wrist she suffered against Dallas, but Reese managed to pack a lot of action and some landmark records into her season while she was on the floor.
Much of that action was focused on the controversy Reese generated coming out of LSU, but the impact of the records she set is undeniable. They'll stay on the books for years to come, so let's sum up what she's done to present as complete a picture as possible of her rookie achievements.
Angel Reese set several Chicago Sky records
First, her franchise records. When Reese entered the league, she definitely did it with a bang. She hit double figures in each of her first five games, which was something no Sky player had ever done. She also grabbed 26 rebounds during that stretch, serving notice that she would be a force inside.
Reese didn't stop there, though. She became the first rookie in Sky history to score over 20 points while grabbing 15 boards, and Reese also tied Chicago's single-game record for rebounding with 22.
But Angel Reese wasn't a solo act, either. She combined with fellow rookie Kamilla Cardoso to become the first pair of rookies in franchise history to get at least five offensive boards in a single game.
Angel Reese set a number of WNBA records as well
As impressive as those numbers are, it was the WNBA record book where Reese really made her impact. Before she broke her wrist, she set the league's rookie record for rebounds in a single season, breaking Sylvia Fowles mark of 404 in early September against the Lynx. Not surprisingly, she also set the rookie mark for offensive rebounds with 172.
Those numbers translated into a record average of over 13 per game, with yet another record in which Reese became the first rookie in WNBA history to get over 10 offensive boards and 10 defensive rebounds in a single game.
Performance-wise, the double-doubles were where the controversy started for Reese. She dominated the glass right from the start, but Reese wasn't efficient at all. She became both famous and notorious for catching her own misses multiple times, which led to accusations that she was deliberately padding her stats to promote her brand.
Still, the sheer volume is impressive when it comes ot the number of records Reese set and how tough it is to control the boards in the first place. It includes the rookie record for double-doubles, along with the number of consecutive games in which she attained that mark. She also set a record for the number of consecutive games with over 20 rebounds when she did that three straight times.
Finally, Reese and Cardoso also set a league mark together with that Chicago record where they both had at least five offensive records in a single contest.
Reese's final numbers for the year
The Sky rookie averaged just over 13 points and 13 rebounds a game for the season, and Reese will undoubtedly make the WNBA's All-Rookie team. She won't win the Rookie of the Year award, as Caitlin Clark will undoubtedly get that one, but her competition with Clark for that particular award was one of the major story lines of the first half of the WNBA season.
On a totally different level, Reese also helped the league set record numbers for viewership. Her June 18th matchup against Clark and the Fever became the most watched game in WNBA history when it was seen by approximately 2.25 million viewers, and her last game against Clark was seen by 1.6 million viewers on Ion.
The controversy will doubtless continue, even with Angel Reese out for the year. But ultimately the controversy she generates will be driven in large part by her numbers on the floor as she and Clark continue to drive the WNBA to new levels of interest.