When Angel Reese entered the WNBA as the No. 7 pick for the Chicago Sky, she got a call from Teresa Weatherspoon that made her feel \u201cat home\u201d. Their bond only grew stronger through the season. When fans criticized Weatherspoon\u2019s coaching, Reese didn\u2019t hesitate to defend her, saying, \u201cOne thing I don\u2019t play about is T-Spoon, so let\u2019s not even try it.\u201d\u00a0It was clear then, and still is now, that no matter which way things go, Reese will always have her coach\u2019s back.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on her early WNBA journey, the Bayou Barbie credited her beloved coach on her podcast, Unapologetically Angel<\/a>. \u201cI think it made my rookie year pretty easy because I had a coach that already played the game, already knew what it was, and could keep it real because you\u2019re a player\u2019s coach,\u201d\u00a0she said.<\/p>\n Watch What\u2019s Trending Now!<\/p>\n Reese was speaking with her current assistant coach, Ty Young. She further explained that coaches who\u2019ve lived the game understand the rhythm of a season, and T-Spoon perfectly fit that. \u201cYou know what we like, what we don\u2019t like, what we want to do, what we don\u2019t do, and how we can approach the game rather than somebody that hasn\u2019t played before.\u201d<\/p>\n Weatherspoon had a decorated playing career in the WNBA. She was a five-time All-Star and the Defensive Player of the Year in 1997 and 1998, a two-time steals champion, and was even inducted into the Louisiana Tech Athletic Hall of Fame.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s why I kind of respected Rob and Spoon so much, because you guys have played the game, Spoon won the championship. Just being able to see that part of it was really important,\u201d Reese noted.<\/p>\n Teresa Weatherspoon, however, was abruptly fired from the Chicago Sky after Angel Reese\u2019s rookie season in 2024. Reese publicly poured out her feelings on social media, writing, \u201cI\u2019m heartbroken. I\u2019m literally lost for words knowing what this woman meant to me in such a pivotal point in my life. She was the only person that believed in me. The one that trusted me.\u201d She went on to highlight how much Weatherspoon\u2019s faith had meant, adding, \u201cMany don\u2019t even know what it\u2019s like to be a Black woman in sports when nobody believes in you\u2026 I came to Chicago because of YOU. You were an unsung hero in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou didn\u2019t deserve this but I can\u2019t thank you enough. I love you, Tspoon,\u201d she concluded.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Weatherspoon had addressed the support she got from Reese, saying, \u201cI haven\u2019t spoken about any of this at all\u2026But when you speak about the support that I\u2019ve been given, the love that has been shown, the mad love that has been shown, and you talk about Angel hitting the platform and speaking up about how it was for me and what our relationship was like, it meant everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Their bond, actually, was pretty evident this year as well. In late August, even though the Chicago Sky were already out of the playoff race with several games still left, they pulled off a surprise win on the road against the defending champions, the New York Liberty, beating them 91\u201385. Reese added 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists. And when the game wrapped up, Reese went straight to the sidelines to hug her former coach, Teresa Weatherspoon.<\/p>\n Now, T-Spoon will be leading Vinyl BC again in her second year with the Unrivaled. As for Reese?<\/p>\n More behind Angel Reese\u2019s decision<\/p>\n Angel Reese won\u2019t be suiting up for Unrivaled\u2019s second season, and while fans are understandably bummed, the decision might actually be what\u2019s best for her in the long run. Sitting this one out could give the Chicago Sky forward some much-needed time to reset mentally and emotionally. A lot of people have linked her absence to the wrist injury she\u2019s been dealing with, but Reese recently suggested there\u2019s more behind her choice.<\/p>\n When a fan pointed out that she\u2019s been \u201cMIA\u201d on social media, the 23-year-old jumped in to respond. \u201cThat was the goal for this offseason,\u201d she wrote on X on November 3. \u201cQuietly minding my business so everybody won\u2019t mind MINE.\u201d<\/p>\n In simpler terms, Reese just wants some peace and privacy. After an exhausting rookie year filled with constant media attention and online chatter, it makes perfect sense that she\u2019d want to take a step back and focus on herself for a while.<\/p>\n This break comes after a dominant run with Rose BC in Unrivaled\u2019s inaugural season. She helped lead the team to the league\u2019s first-ever championship. Moreover, she made history by recording Unrivaled\u2019s first 20-20 game. She led the league in rebounds and thus became the Defensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n Reflecting on that experience, Reese shared, \u201cIt is hard. To live my life isn\u2019t easy\u2026 there are little girls that look up to me\u2026 being able to be an inspiration every day.\u201d She later added, \u201cI told them to coach me hard and get on me what they need to get on me\u2026 I really enjoy this. When I leave this, I know I\u2019m going to take a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the success, she is choosing to sit it out this time. But her offseason is far from idle. After she became the first professional athlete to walk the Victoria\u2019s Secret Fashion Show, she also continues to expand her Reebok line, with the \u201cKing Tiago Reese\u201d colorway set to drop on November 14. That is an early release since the initial plan by Reebok was to launch it in 2026. But after she graced the cover of NBA 2K26 WNBA Edition, Reebok decided to capitalize on it, and why not<\/a>?<\/p>\n Share this with a friend:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Angel Reese entered the WNBA as the No. 7 pick for the Chicago Sky, she got a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":365884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-365883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115517412052305030","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}