Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese was forced to leave Sunday’s 93-91 home victory over the Chicago Sky after suffering a left leg injury just 15 seconds into the fourth quarter, and she did not return to action.
The injury occurred as Reese drove toward the basket for a layup. As she released the ball, she appeared to roll her left ankle and collapsed to the floor. Courtney Vandersloot was initially whistled for a foul on the play, but a replay review showed no contact was made, and the call was reversed. Reese had also been wearing a sleeve on her left knee during the game.
Reese managed to get back on her feet but went back down to the floor before eventually making her way to the bench. She was ruled out for the remainder of the contest, and the team offered no update on her condition going forward.
Head coach Karl Smesko spoke with reporters after the game and described the difficult moments during the timeout when his team’s attention turned to Reese.
“It’s hard because we’re in the timeout. It seemed like a really long timeout, and there wasn’t a lot being said because we were all just looking at Angel,” Smesko said. “And when I was looking at her, it seemed like she was in a lot of pain, and she wanted to go out there and keep playing because she’s competitive and she wants to win the game. … I just didn’t feel comfortable with it because she looked like she was in a lot of pain.”
Reese, who earned All-Star honors in each of her first two seasons with Chicago, came into Sunday’s matchup averaging a career-high 15.7 points per game along with a league-best 11.8 rebounds per contest.
She was traded from Chicago to Atlanta this past offseason, along with a second-round draft pick, in exchange for two first-round selections.
Before leaving the game, Reese had contributed eight points and five rebounds in 20 minutes of play.
