Is Angel Reese Atlanta’s next Black sports superstar?

“I’m beyond grateful for the opportunity to join the Atlanta Dream organization,” Reese said in a team statement. “I’m focused on continuing to grow my game, competing at the highest level, connecting with the fans, and giving everything I’ve got to the Dream.”

Angel Reese is introduced by the Atlanta Dream on Friday, April 17, 2026. The Dream acquired Reese for first-round draft picks in 2027 and 2028. (Brynn Anderson, AP)

What history tells us

Earlier this year, the WNBA celebrated its 30th anniversary. The milestone comes as America’s longest-standing professional women’s sports league enters what is arguably its biggest season.

Thanks to a new collective bargaining agreement, players are making more money. Expansion brought two new teams into the mix this year, in Portland and Toronto. There are more lucrative TV deals and superteams to watch. Current stars like Reese, reigning MVP A’ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers are being billed as such.

“I feel like it’s best positioned than it has ever been to really take a firm foothold in becoming a cultural institution on par with the NBA,” author and award-winning sports journalist Tamryn Spruill said.

Historically, this wasn’t the case.

“The players were just players, and they weren’t marketed properly to show their talents and passions,” she said.

Spruill’s forthcoming book, “The W: A History of the WNBA,” looks at what she calls the “hidden history” of the league.

In her research, Spruill uncovers how, for much of its existence, individual and team milestones in the WNBA went mostly underreported. Lack of dedication from news outlets to put beat reporters on the league quieted any buzz around it. Throw in racism, sexism and homophobia, and you’ve got a league full of players shying away from the limelight — and, in some cases, their identities.

“In the past, players kind of had to assimilate, talk around race, not really mention any problems,” Spruill said.

So, what changed? Major turning points include Chicago Sky guard Skylar Diggins being drafted into the league in 2013, players leveraging social media to advocate for better working conditions, former Dream player turned current co-owner Renee Montgomery sitting out the 2020 season to focus on social justice issues, and more committed new ownership groups.

Diggins, an Indiana native, already had amassed a following in high school. That traveled with her to college at Notre Dame and into the WNBA. She had game, a big social media audience and rappers like Lil’ Wayne professing their love for her. When she got into the league, Diggins became the first woman athlete to sign with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports.

For today’s WNBA, whether it’s Reese strutting up Met Gala steps or the StudBudz (Minnesota Lynx players Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman) going viral on Twitch discussing the LGBTQ+ community, representation matters.

In Atlanta, where Spruill lived during the 1990s, Reese should thrive — professionally, personally — on a team, in a league and city more in tune to celebrating who she is as a person.

It’s the sort of change that sparks greatness.

“I think it’s just a superpower for her that she can potentially really ride into becoming a legend. I would not count her out for that happening, especially if she’s continuing to smash records,” Spruill said.

‘An incredible add’

Right now, Reese isn’t even the best player on her current team. She doesn’t need to be. Dream stalwarts Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray, too, are All-Stars and have played longer. The latter flirted with MVP contention last season. When forward Brionna Jones returns from injury, Reese will surely see her minutes adjust.

Reese does hold the record for most consecutive double-doubles in WNBA history. She’s also the second-youngest to record a triple-double. She’s yet to play in the postseason, but her Dream jersey sold out in three hours after the trade was announced. The organization also saw a jump in ticket sales and sponsorships.

Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese walks off of the stage after a press conference to welcome the Atlanta Dream 2026 free agent class last month. (Jason Getz/AJC)

In Atlanta, wins and losses are counted, but marketability based on how much a Black athlete embraces the culture and fans is paramount.

“If you’ve got that ‘ATL’ on your front and you in any way find yourself having to answer for who you are, Atlanta will always have your back,” said Elle Duncan, an Atlanta native and lead host for Netflix. “They revel in people who are unapologetically themselves and unapologetically Black, which is why I think Angel Reese is such an incredible add.”

Duncan spent a decade at ESPN, anchoring “SportsCenter,” covering women’s college basketball and the WNBA. When she was growing up, Hank Aaron was considered a superhero for his work with the local deaf community. Her family had a mythical reverence for Dominique Wilkins as the “Atlanta version of Michael Jordan.” Deion Sanders was loved for his charisma, style and flair. Even Mike Vick — legal and ethical woes and all — found and still has a local fan base for being different.

“(Fans) galvanize when someone is deemed too much this or too much that,” Duncan said.

Folks have thrown unsolicited feedback on Reese and her character ever since she won a national championship at LSU in 2023. It was that game where Reese and Co. beat Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes. Reese made wrestler John Cena’s “You can’t see me” sign in Clark’s direction and proceeded to set the ever-so-divisive internet ablaze for essentially exhibiting behavior male players are often lauded for doing.

In the time since, Reese and her team have found ways to turn hate into opportunity. Reese trademarked the phrase “Mebounds,” which came from critics mocking the fact she was rebounding her own missed shots. She took it a step further and made a pink colorway for her Angel Reese 1 Reebok sneaker dubbed, you guessed it, Mebounds.

Duncan has interviewed Reese over the course of both their careers and calls her “a marketing genius.”

“She recognizes what a lot of businesses are just now catching up on, which is that brand loyalty for women’s sports fans is huge,” she added. “She’s a fashion queen; she looks like a model, but on top of that, she’s strong and competitive and really good at her day job.”

“I hope that she does,” Duncan added. “We need a woman on that list, desperately.”

Fan appeal

Kenya Lavelle prayed for this — literally.

When the Dream were eliminated from the playoffs last season, the McDonough resident was there, at Gateway Center Arena, with her son.

One question was on her mind: “Oh, my God, what will it take for us to get Angel here?”

Lavelle, 33, has followed the star since Reese’s junior year at LSU. She traveled to Greenville for the women’s SEC basketball tournament two years in a row to see Reese play in person. She’s watched almost every game since. She owns three pairs of Reese’s signature shoes, two of her Reese’s Pieces cereal boxes, along with Chicago and Atlanta jerseys.

Kenya Lavelle, a die-hard fan of Atlanta Dream basketball player Angel Reese, sits with Reese memorabilia at her McDonough home on May 13, 2026. Among her collection are three pairs of Reese's signature Reebok sneakers, two Angel Reese’s Puffs cereal boxes, an Atlanta Dream jersey and a basketball. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

When news of the trade broke, Lavelle called her mom, ecstatic. She showed up at Gateway for the Dream’s second preseason game with one cereal box and a pair of sneakers, leaving with Reese’s autograph on both.

The Reese fanatic said she can feel her energy through the TV screen. In Reese, she sees herself.

“I’m kind of like a black sheep myself. I don’t like to be boxed in, and I feel like Angel is paving the way for generations to come,” Lavelle said.

The moment Lavelle shared with her family was similar to how Janice Nealy celebrated with her daughter. The 65-year-old resident of Ellerslie, Georgia, lives over 90 miles from Gateway Center.

Typically a fan of Alabama sports, Nealy first caught a glimpse of Reese during LSU’s national championship run. She was drawn to her style of play — more specifically, her attitude on the court.

“I get tickled when she makes a play, and then she just stands there and just gives them the look,” Nealy said. “… You got men doing the same thing, but nobody said anything about that.”

Nealy texted her daughter, a former Dream season-ticket holder, when she found out Reese was joining the Dream. When her daughter texted back, “I know you’re happy,” Nealy had one response: “Cheesing!!!!”

Nikera Maddox isn’t on the same level of Reese fandom as Lavelle and Nealy, but she’s dead serious about the Dream and WNBA. The College Park native lives 10 minutes away from Gateway Center. She fell in love with the Dream during their inaugural 2008 season.

You say “Atlanta Dream,” and the 24-year-old starts reeling off her personal favorite list of franchise greats, including the OG Angel (McCoughtry), Tiffany “Tip” Hayes and Érika de Souza. She praises personnel moves by current Dream general manager Dan Padover.

Last season, Maddox missed only two home games. She likes the Dream’s chances of making a deeper playoff run with the addition of Reese.

She’s also bought in on the idea that her favorite team’s newest star’s potential.

“I don’t think it’s too early to actually have that conversation about her working toward being an Atlanta great or being a great in the sport, in general,” Maddox said.

“She wants to be one of the biggest names to touch the sport and to also grace the sport and make sure it helps grow.”

What ‘Nique thinks

Wilkins tells people even though he wasn’t born in Atlanta, he’s from Atlanta. A self-described military brat, this is the only city that truly feels like home.

You don’t have to pose for a selfie in front of the 18,500-pound bronze statue of Wilkins at State Farm Arena to know this city loves him back. It doesn’t hurt that his success on the court led to four straight 50-win seasons and a Hall of Fame career.

When he was drafted by the Hawks in 1982, Wilkins knew he wanted to play for Atlanta. What he didn’t realize was that he was the perfect star for that era in our city’s history.

Dominique Wilkins was a scoring and dunking machine for the Hawks during his 11 1/2 seasons with the team. (Louie Favorite/AJC file photo)

“I think we were the ones who put Georgia on the map, as far as recognizing them as the Black mecca,” he said. “It starts with guys like myself who really embraced the city, who really embraced the fans and the neighborhoods and the different communities. I came in, I think, at a time where it was needed.”

What also helped Wilkins was a willingness from the Atlanta community to embrace and offer him mentorship. Aaron, along with civil rights icons Julian Bond, Andrew Young and Black leaders such as then-Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, all served as mentors. Even the late Ted Turner was someone Wilkins could call.

“I was very fortunate that Atlanta looked at me and treated me as their native son because of what I gave on and off the court that made them feel that way,” he said.

It’s not lost on Wilkins when rappers such as T.I. and 2 Chainz show him love for bringing a focus to their hometown as kids. He laughs when young entertainers at State Farm or out in public call him “Uncle Nique.” In his words, the way Black folks root for each other to succeed here is unique: “It’s a rare city, bro.”

With the right combination of timing, luck and commitment to embracing Atlanta’s culture, people and communities, Reese can grow into a fixture here. For her part, when asked about what it means to play here, Reese said in her introductory press conference, “Atlanta speaks for itself.”

“I think she has to embrace the city, first and foremost, and really understand the Southern hospitality that she’s going to be given, and you got to give that same hospitality back,” he said, noting that like the greats who came before him, he’d graciously offer his mentorship.

“I would love to talk to her to give her the lay of the land, things she could do and how to do certain things in the city,” he said. “I think as people of color, we don’t do enough of that with each other.”