The end of a season usually brings a moment of reflection for athletes, but Angel Reese appears ready to make the most of her time off the court. After a demanding yet historic campaign that saw her lead the Atlanta Dream to their first WNBA Finals since 2013, the star forward is planning a quieter offseason.
“i won’t be doing my podcast this off season but you can expect some vlogs from time to time. so subscribe to my YOUTUBE,” Reese posted to her private Barbie Archives Instagram account.
“florida will be my home & i will be there resting, working out, continuing to work on my personal brand quietly, and supporting/ loving on my partner. things that i love to do that brings me so much PEACE.”
Reese’s partner, Wendell Carter Jr., is a center for the NBA’s Orlando Magic and is based there during the NBA’s regular season. As she indicated, Reese is also taking a six-month break from her podcast, Unapologetically Angel, which has had regular episodes until April 3 this year.
The decision comes after an extremely busy regular season. After being traded by the Chicago Sky to the Dream in the offseason, Reese led Atlanta to the #4 seed with a 30-14 record during a regular season in which she broke multiple rebounding records. For her efforts, she was named the 2026 Defensive Player of the Year.
Reese was also the engine of a Dream squad that swept their first two playoff series on the way to the Finals, but lost to the Golden State Valkyries after forcing the first Game 7 in WNBA history. That loss caused Reese to receive a lot of flak online, including from Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, who singled out Reese’s collapse in the final four games as a critical factor
“A total disaster class from Angel Reese,” he said during the most recent episode of Wake Up Barstool, on November 2, the same day as Reese’s announcement.
“If you watch the game, Gabby Williams from the Valkyries…made every play, demanded the ball…but this was a disaster class for Angel Reese. And you don’t have to be an Angel Reese hater to acknowledge it. She was a disaster in their losses, a total no-show… She lost them the Finals. There’s absolutely no other way to extrapolate this.”
Reese had started the Finals strong. In the first three games of the series, she was the best player on the court and even took accountability for Atlanta’s Game 1 loss to the Valkyries. In the following games, she logged 30 points, 16 rebounds, and two blocks in Game 2, and a 21-point, 12-rebound double-double in Game 3. Both were wins for the Dream. However, her offensive game almost completely collapsed afterward.
The subsequent four games saw Reese score in double figures only once. She averaged 9.5 points per game over the final four showdowns, shooting just 26.6% from the field while turning the ball over 4.7 times per game.
Reese also earned a lot of criticism from Portnoy and several others online for taunting Valkyries players earlier in the series. She had thrown the ‘too small’ and ‘can’t f*** with me” gestures at Valkyries rookie Amanita Gueye during Game 3, something that blew up in her face when her team lost the series.
However, after Game 7, Reese made it clear that she believed in her team’s resilience and expected them to be back in the Finals.
“It’s tough, especially with a good group, a great group, that I’ve honestly been a head on it to battle with all year,” she said in the press conference.
“I always say delayed, not denied, and this is only year three. They got a lot more years left, too. But I’m just really grateful that I got to go to war with this group, and I would do it again, all over again.”
With the season now behind her, Reese is using the offseason to reset and focus on her off-court priorities. The podcast pause might keep her public presence quieter for a while, but she’s set to be back in the spotlight soon enough.