Forty-six of the 74 sportswriters and broadcasters on the WNBA’s national voting panel picked Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese as the 2026 Defensive Player of the Year, the league announced Thursday. No Dream player had won the award before.
Golden State Valkyries forward Gabby Williams finished second with 20 votes. Las Vegas Aces center-forward A’ja Wilson was third with four votes, and Washington Mystics center Shakira Austin was fourth with two. Golden State guard Veronica Burton and Atlanta guard Rhyne Howard tied for fifth with one vote each.
Reese set the goal with Atlanta’s coaches without putting a season on it, and she wanted the staff pushing her toward it every day.
“I told my coaches earlier in the season I am going to be the Defensive Player of the Year,” Reese told ESPN. “I don’t know if it’s going to be this year, I don’t know if it’s going to be next year, but I’m challenging myself, and I want you guys to challenge me every day to be that. And here it is.”
A First Season in Atlanta
Reese spent her first two WNBA seasons with the Chicago Sky, which drafted her seventh overall out of LSU in 2024. She signed with Atlanta before the 2026 season with “expectations knowing how good the team was going to be.”
“I always think team success leads to individual success,” Reese said. “I’ve always been a great defender … but I knew coming to Atlanta, it was going to put me on a bigger [stage] … and lead to wins.”
During the regular season, she became the first player in Dream history to be named Eastern Conference Player of the Week three weeks in a row. She also won a gold medal with the United States at the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Berlin.
From one Angel to another 😇
Angel Reese’s mom does the honors of surprising her with the 2026 @Kia Defensive Player of the Year Award! #KIADPOY | #WNBASeason30 pic.twitter.com/TrtzIuhnxh
— WNBA (@WNBA) October 1, 2026
In her third season and first with the Dream, Reese finished third in the WNBA in steals per game at 1.8. She was also third in total steals with 77. Both were career highs.
With Reese on the floor, Atlanta allowed 7.9 fewer points per 100 possessions than with her off it. That was the second-best differential among players with at least 500 minutes and the largest among Dream rotation players.
Reese led the WNBA with 3.39 defensive win shares. Her individual defensive rating of 100.0 ranked fourth in the league. She contested 507 field goal attempts, the 10th-most in the league.
Records on the Glass
No player in WNBA history had reached 500 rebounds in a season before Reese. She finished with 521, a single-season record. Her 206 offensive rebounds set another.
She led the league at 12.1 rebounds per game. The WNBA gave her its Peak Performer honor as the league’s leading rebounder.
On Aug. 24, in a road win over the Los Angeles Sparks, she grabbed 26 rebounds. That is a WNBA single-game record.
On the defensive glass, Reese averaged 7.3 rebounds per game, fourth in the league. Her 315 total defensive rebounds ranked third.
Reese also set the single-season record for double-doubles with 32. She averaged 16.4 points per game and was one of two players in the league to average a double-double.
Atlanta’s Defense
Atlanta finished third in the WNBA in defensive rating at 103.5. The Dream allowed 9.5 second-chance points per game, the fewest in the league.
Dream coach Karl Smesko said Reese takes on whatever matchup and moment she is handed.
“She can guard any position,” Smesko said. “She’s not afraid of any challenge. She relishes these opportunities and steps up in big moments. We saw that from the very first game of the year. She made a defensive play to help us win the first game she played for the Dream.”
Throughout the season, Dream players kept a running competition among themselves over who could total the most deflections and steals.
Howard finished first in the league in steals per game at 2.3, and Jordin Canada was second at 1.9. Reese, at 1.8, was the only player between them and the rest of the league.
“When I said last week that the Defensive Player of the Year was in Atlanta, I felt that because Jordin’s and Rhyne’s impact can’t go unnoticed,” Reese said. “I have the trophy and I definitely want them to sign the trophy. They deserve it as much as I do.”
This summer, after the league named its 10 All-Star starters without a Dream player among them, Reese called it “a slap in the face” and said she was speaking up for Howard and Allisha Gray because they do not usually speak for themselves. She was later selected to her third consecutive All-Star Game.
Reese said again that she wants Canada and Howard to sign the trophy.
“I’m grateful for Atlanta, I’m grateful for my teammates and my coaches and all the supporting staff that supports us,” Reese said. “This is just the beginning.”
@latto certified. MISS DPOY. pic.twitter.com/emLO99fGOV
— Angel Reese (@Reese10Angel) October 1, 2026
Semifinals Against the New York Liberty
Atlanta swept Washington in the first round, winning 92-77 and 93-75. The fourth-seeded Dream will face the eighth-seeded New York Liberty in a best-of-five semifinal, the franchise’s first semifinal appearance since 2018.
New York swept the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx in its first-round series, winning 91-75 and 87-71.
Game 1 is Sunday in Atlanta. Game 2 is also in Atlanta on Wednesday, Oct. 7, and the series moves to New York for Game 3 on Friday, Oct. 9. The WNBA Finals begin Oct. 17.
