Angel Reese's second WNBA season has been an unequivocal nightmare.
She has struggled. The Chicago Sky has struggled. It's been rough.
On Saturday, the Sky lost by 30 to a Fever team missing Caitlin Clark due to injury.
Much of the shine of Reese as a rookie has worn off. She still has major supporters of course, but this isn't a piece meant to bring her down.
Rather, it's a reminder of the one fact that it seems most people forgot almost immediately upon Clark and Reese's entry into the league.
It feels logical to assume Reese was the No. 2 overall draft pick behind Clark in 2024. She wasn't.
Reese was chosen at No. 7.
That's not a bad spot. It's certainly a place you can get a solid WNBA player. But there was never an assumption she'd be a superstar.
The Sky picked a different frontcourt player, South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso, at No. 3 in the same draft.
Reese has leaned into a lot of the narratives and the attention, at times. But really, much of the actual basketball expectation placed on her has come from the outside.
She's a historically effective rebounder who struggles to score efficiently. The Sky weren't going to get a flawless player with the seventh pick in any draft.
Clark was the unquestioned No. 1 pick as a legendary, generational talent.
Reese wasn't those things, and that's why she went seventh.
What has happened since shouldn't actually be all that surprising.
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