Angel Reese was brutally criticized by Dave Portnoy and Jason Whitlock on social media following the Chicago Sky’s loss to the Las Vegas Aces Sunday.
The 22-year-old put up 11 points and 22 rebounds to tie Tina Charles’ record for the most double-doubles in a season by a rookie in WNBA history.
However, her efforts weren’t enough to help Chicago snap its losing streak as A’ja Wilson’s buzzer-beating layup clinched the 77-75 victory for the reigning WNBA champions in dramatic fashion.
As well as tasting defeat, the rookie also had to suffer a wave of online criticism as Portnoy and Whitlock picked apart her game.
The Barstool Sports founder mercilessly mocked Reese as he shared a clip of her airballing a 3-point attempt to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Nothing but net,’ he captioned the clip, taking a dig at her miss
Whitlock took it one step further, claiming there was one aspect of Reese’s game that may never improve.
‘Angel Reese releases the ball at her shoulder, not at eye level,’ the sports columnist wrote. ‘It’s the equivalent of Stevie Wonder and Gary Coleman combining on a shot. Leads to blocks and bricks. It won’t be an easy fix. Might be impossible.’
Despite her critics’ claims of flaws, Reese made league history in the defeat, recording her third consecutive game with at least 20 rebounds. She finished with 22 to go along with 11 points, giving her 22 double-doubles on the season.
Chennedy Carter had come up clutch draining an outstanding 3-pointer to tie the game 75-75 once again with 1.1 seconds remaining, firing up the home crowd inside the Wintrust Arena.
Yet any hope that Carter had sparked inside the Chicago Arena was swift dashed by Wilson, who converted a layup at the buzzer to clinch the win and take her tally to 20 points and 18 rebounds for the game in another MVP statement performance.
Plum added 18 points, while Megan Gustafson contributed 13 in her first start with the team to provide the Aces wit a much-needed jolt in the third quarter. Gustafson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Las Vegas a 40-34 lead with 7:21 to play.
Meanwhile, Carter led the Sky, adding 25 points to Reese’s 11. Lindsay Allen scored 16 points and Michaela Onyenwere finished with 15.
Portnoy has been an outspoken supporter of Caitlin Clark – Reese’s main rival for Rookie of the Year – but Whitlock has been as equally scathing of the No. 1 Draft Pick.
Earlier on Saturday, he had slammed Clark despite the Indiana Fever rookie shattering another record the night before.
At only 22 years of age, Clark became the fastest player to reach 500 points and 200 assists in the history of women’s professional basketball just three months into her WNBA career thanks to her 23 points and eight assists against the Minnesota Lynx.
However, she also added another seven turnovers to her record, taking her average to 5.6 for the season – something that Whitlock took great issue with.
‘They gotta quit making excuses for Caitlin Clark’s turnovers,’ he wrote. ‘It’s sloppy and hurting her team.’
Since Clark’s dubious record-setting 10-turnover debut, her assist-to-turnover ratio has jumped from 1.23 to 1 in May and June to 2.19 to 1 in eight games since July 1.