The 2025 WNBA season has been electric since day-1. And like last year, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have been the eye of the storm. Although the reigning league ROTY went on a 19-day sabbatical to nurse her strained hamstring, she returned to hand the defending champions, New York Liberty, their very first loss in a near triple-double outing of 32 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists. Meanwhile, the Chicago Sky forward has been rewriting a new story for herself. Still, the ghosts of the past did not leave her be.

Through the first nine games of the season, the 2024 seventh-overall pick out of LSU has been under scrutiny for the same reasons as her rookie season– poor shooting efficiency. However, unlike last season, she has added more versatility to her game. This time around, she’s not just trying her hands on deep shots but also her passing game. So far, her choice to move the ball and create shots for her teammates has been striking the right chords. Reese has already doubled her assists per game from 1.9 last season to 3.5 so far. To top it all, she has not stopped being a dominant presence on the glass, collecting 11.9 rebounds per game. Certainly, she has shown growth in her sophomore season. But what she did against the Connecticut Sun has elevated her game to another level.

No, we are not saying her field goal efficiency has improved. In fact, she posted one of her lowest – 28.6 FG% – against the Sun. However, she showed off her passing skills. Becoming the only second player this season to post a triple-double (first being Caitlin Clark), she put up a clinic in Mohegan Sun Arena with 11 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists in the 78-66 road win. And as per her postgame comments, it seems like displays like this are going to be a common thing moving deeper into the season.

In the post-game presser, a reporter tried to unpack the moment. “Driving your game, it seems like this whole week you have shown different parts of that. You showed some mid to the outsides in Brooklyn, then this game tonight. How does that feel for you and after?” Reese didn’t hesitate. She offered only five words that were measured but loaded with meaning:

“I just wanna be unstoppable. I wanna be to a point where it’s hard to guard because they have to guard the pass. They have to guard the shot. Obviously, didn’t knock my shots down, felt really good during the warm-ups, but obviously didn’t knock down tonight. But I didn’t let that get down. Some of the best players in the world, like if their shots are not falling, they try to find other ways to get the team involved. So, I tried to find that on the defensive end. Guarded Tina (Charles) who’s obviously a great player. Being able to pass and rebound is something I tried to emphasize tonight.”

To many, it might sound like any postgame soundbite, but it’s a declaration of intent, one that is putting the entire league on notice. Now, the Bayou Barbie is also a “Triple-Double Barbie,” as the league called her. 

Sky’s win might not look much considering that it came against a team that also entered the game at 2-7, just above the Wings. But for their confidence, it was massive. The teamwork by Chicago in this game was commendable as their bench outscored the Sun’s 36-2 and they hit 42.9% of their shots from field and 94.4% from the free throw line. How they closed that fourth quarter? It was all Hailey Van Lith, Ariel Atkins, and Angel Reese, combining for 37 points in the outing. But the matchup did not come without its controversy.

For some reason, the physicality is not ending for the Sky

Although the emotions ran high in the game, Bria Hartley made it all the more serious. In the third quarter with 6:22 on the clock, Angel Reese went in for an offensive rebound from Kamilla Cardoso’s missed layup in a crowded paint. To keep the No. 5 away from the ball, Sun’s Bria Hartley pulled her braids. Without caring for the ball, Reese did not take time to turn and face Connecticut’s No. 14. When Sun’s Olivia Nelson-Ododa came in between to separate the two, Reese pushed her back. The entire teams had to come to keep Reese away at that point with Tina Charles trying to defend her teammate.

Postgame, though, Reese understood Charles stance and had no hard feelings, they, in fact, even hugged it out after the game was over. “Obviously, the little scuffle that we had, obviously she had to stick up for her teammate. But she was like ‘You know I got to do that. I got to do that for my teammate.’ I was like ‘You know that s— not personal,’” Reese said. She did not stop there, of course.

Well, that’s the kind of maturity you look for in a leader and our barbie seems to have a lot of it. With a growing game and the season entering into a full swing and the Commissioner’s Cup matchups only heating, let’s see how the forward can help her team moving forwards.