Angel Reese is stepping onto the court against the Chicago Sky for the first time since her controversial exit. And of course, the expectation is that things might feel a little intense. After all, her 2025 season ended in chaos, injuries, suspension, and unmet expectations. But Reese isn’t feeding into that narrative. Instead, she’s rewriting it entirely, preparing for the clash in an Atlanta Dream jersey with a remarkably calm and forward-looking energy.

For her, the return to Chicago is simply an opportunity to revisit a city she still holds close. Speaking to reporters ahead of the Dream’s first preseason game, she kept her tone uncomplicated. “Just another exciting opportunity for me to be in Chicago. I loved my experience there. It was amazing,” she said. And as she also said, she’s clearly looking forward to the familiar faces that come with it. “Seeing a lot of familiar faces on Wednesday is going to be good,” she added. Although notably, that warmth seems directed more at the city and its fans than at her former teammates specifically.

But Angel Reese’s anticipation and connection with Chicago, is one that makes sense. Reese spent her first two WNBA seasons with the Chicago Sky, but it wasn’t the smoothest ride. The team missed the playoffs in both years, and the lack of stability didn’t help either. Reese had to play under two different head coaches, constantly adjusting to new systems and contrasting philosophies.

At times, she was pushed out of her comfort zone, asked to carry the load both as a rebounder and a scorer. More often than not, she became the player the team leaned on when things got tough. That’s a heavy burden for any young player, and over time, it started to show, with Reese clearly growing frustrated with the situation.

What makes the return storyline so layered, of course, is how her time with the Sky actually ended. Reese didn’t leave quietly. She publicly criticized the team’s roster and management, stating she would move in a “different direction” if the organization didn’t attract better players.

It makes it even more surprising when you look at the Chicago Sky’s approach last offseason. They went all-in, bringing in Courtney Vandersloot and Ariel Atkins in what was supposed to be a clear win-now push. Instead, it all fell flat, with the team managing just 10 wins. That frustration didn’t stay behind closed doors. Angel Reese let it show in her comments to the Chicago Tribune, which eventually led to a half-game suspension for “statements detrimental to the team.”

And from there, things only seemed to spiral further.

In the final game of the season, the atmosphere turned hostile, with boos directed at Jeff Pagliocca and fans calling for him to be fired. One courtside fan even showed up in a “Free Angel” T-shirt. That felt like the last straw.

And the result of that was a major move, as the Atlanta Dream acquired Angel Reese along with a 2028 second-round pick swap in exchange for their 2027 and 2028 first-round draft picks.

Yet now, months after all of that tension, Angel Reese is framing the return as nothing more than a nostalgic reunion. No scores to settle. No statements to make. Just a player going back to a place she loved, wearing a different jersey. Whether that framing holds once the ball tips off is another question entirely, but she seems genuinely committed to keeping it that way. 

This matchup is set to be an exciting one. The Atlanta Dream have retained their core, which under coach Karl Smesko developed into one of the league’s top offensive units. Meanwhile, the Chicago Sky come in with a completely new-look roster—one that, at least on paper, has the potential to compete with the very best in the league.

A potential starting five of Skylar Diggins, Rickea Jackson, Kamilla Cardoso, Azurá Stevens, and Jacy Sheldon, with DiJonai Carrington coming off the bench, is definitely one to watch. If they click, it could make this matchup even more intriguing, especially given how the Dream had the upper hand over Angel Reese and co in all four meetings last season.

That said, despite the friction that defined Reese’s departure, a large portion of the Sky fanbase never truly let go. In fact, within just eight hours of the trade announcement, the Sky’s Instagram account shed 10,000 followers. That’s a striking indicator of just how much of the fanbase’s emotional investment had been tied directly to Reese. 

So, the fans clearly still have plenty of love for her. And as she has made clear, Chicago still holds a place in her heart too, even as Atlanta becomes her new home. For her former teammates, however, that mutual warmth may be a slightly different story. But on Wednesday, none of that will be written on her face.

Angel Reese Appreciates Sky Experience, But New Environment Pushes Her to Improve

Angel Reese has never been shy about acknowledging what her time with the Chicago Sky meant to her. But appreciation and satisfaction are two different things, and for Reese, the Sky ultimately couldn’t give her everything she was looking for. “I’m always gonna be grateful for that because I did experience a lot of great things. I enjoyed being able to grow within my first two years, but I wanted more,” she said plainly. And what she wanted more of was clear, winning, competing, and being surrounded by people who could push her to be better. “I love to win, I love to compete,” she said. “And I wanted to be surrounded by people that can make me better.”

The record backs up her frustration. Her two seasons with the Chicago Sky were by back-to-back losing records and back-to-back playoff misses, a far cry from the winning environment she craved. And the painful irony of it all is that amid the team’s struggles, Reese herself was thriving individually, breaking records and earning WNBA All-Star recognition. It’s not hard to see why, given that context, she felt the talent around her wasn’t quite matching the level she was operating at.

Now with the Atlanta Dream, she feels she finally found what she was looking for. “I felt like being around these kinds of players would help me be better. I can help them in different ways to help them win, and that’s all I ever wanted,” she said. And she’s already backing that up in how she’s approaching the new environment. 

Speaking ahead of their preseason game against the Sky, she gave a glimpse into her mindset. “I’m learning different ways to get my teammates open. We have a lot of great players on this team. So it’s about finding where I fit and how I can help,” she said.

The preseason clash against the Sky, then, carries more weight than the scoreboard will officially reflect. For Chicago, there’s a lingering question about whether letting Reese go truly helped balance their roster as the organization has suggested. And for Reese, Wednesday is a chance to show, in real time, that the environment she chose is already making her better. The result may not affect the standings, but it will absolutely reinforce, or complicate, some very loudly held opinions on both sides.