Angel Reese had one of the worst games of her entire career on Sunday afternoon, turning the ball over eight times while going just 1-for-8 from the field. As a result, she now leads the WNBA in one unfortunate category.
In basketball, guards are typically the players with the most turnovers over the course of the season, in large part because they hold, dribble, and pass the ball more than any other player on the court. That’s a big reason why Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark has led the league in turnovers each of the past two seasons, as NBC broadcaster Kate Scott explained during a recent broadcast.
“Yeah, because she holds the basketball for the majority of the 40 minutes,” she said, addressing the fans who criticize Clark for her high turnover numbers. “Welcome to the sport of basketball.”
Reese, however, has been the exception to this rule.
Angel Reese Turnover Struggles
Though Reese is more of a post forward and does not handle the ball as often as a guard or a wing, she has struggled with turnovers. While Clark led the league in turnovers per game last season with 5.1, Reese was second in the league with 3.9 turnovers per game.
This season, Reese is struggling with turnovers yet again, and those struggles reached their peak during Sunday’s loss to the Las Vegas Aces. During the game, Reese turned the ball over eight times in just 29 minutes of action, resulting in the team benching her down the stretch. The Atlanta Dream star had three travels, three offensive fouls, and one bad pass in addition to stepping out of bounds on one occasion.
After Sunday’s eight-turnover performance, Reese now leads the league in turnovers per game, averaging 5.3 turnovers per contest. Unfortunately for Reese, this means that Reese is currently averaging more turnovers per game than made field goals per game.
‘This Can’t Be Real’
Given the position that Reese plays, fans were stunned to learn that the forward now leads the league in turnovers.
“As a forward? Must be fake stats. That can’t be real,” one fan wrote in a post on X.
“6 turnovers in one half from a power forward is crazy,” another fan added.
“8 turnovers????? For a post player????” someone else questioned.
“Angel Reese is a generational rebounder but not everyone needs to be a point forward . There’s no reason why she should have 6 turnovers in a game let alone a half. This point forward experiment/Gimmick needs to end. Let her do what she does best and that’s play defense and Reb,” another fan wrote in a post.
It’s safe to say that Reese is off to a slow start to the season. We’ll have to see whether or not she can get the turnover issues under control.
About Dave Kelsey
Bets on sports stuff.