Angel Reese avoids suspension after controversial technical foul is rescinded

A tangle for rebounding position in the lane nearly cost Angel Reese, Atlanta’s leading rebounder, a full game on the bench. The mixup came in the fourth quarter of Friday’s game against the Portland Fire, one of the WNBA‘s two expansion franchises this season.

Dream forward Angel Reese and Fire guard Carla Leite got tied up chasing a loose ball. Officials called Reese for a technical foul, her eighth of the season, and she finished the night with 16 points and 16 rebounds. That number of technicals triggers an automatic one-game suspension under WNBA rules. By Saturday, the league reversed the call and wiped it from her record. The 6-foot-3 forward is now cleared to face the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday.

Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese (5) reacts in the third quarter of a game against the Phoenix Mercury. Connect (Reuters)

Under WNBA rules, a player who reaches eight technical fouls in a season draws an automatic one-game suspension without pay. Every two after that adds another game. Friday’s call came from contact under the basket, not from arguing a whistle.

Had it stood, Reese would have missed Sunday’s home game against the Lynx. She has been down this road before. Last season with the Chicago Sky, the LSU product served a suspension once she picked up her eighth technical. This time, the league’s review spared her that outcome.

Friday’s double-double tied Reese with Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas for the most in a single WNBA season. Thomas set the mark in 2023 with the Connecticut Sun, reaching 28 double-doubles that year.

Along the way, the six-time All-Star posted double-digit points and assists in 11 games, six of which turned into triple-doubles. No other player in league history has more than five triple-doubles for a career. Thomas has 22 and counting.

Every one of Reese’s double-doubles this season shares the same shape. She has scored at least 10 points and grabbed at least 10 rebounds each time. The first arrived in her regular-season debut with the Dream. She has also tallied five or more assists in five of those games, including six helpers on Friday.

Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese (5). Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Four days before Friday’s game, Reese set the WNBA’s single-game and single-season rebounding records. She grabbed 26 boards in a win over the Los Angeles Sparks.

The LSU alumna nearly recorded a triple-double in that stretch too, posting 20 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists against the Sparks the week before that. She shot a perfect 9 of 9 from the field that night, including 2 of 2 from three-point range. The Dream also set a franchise record with 124 points in that game.

Reese followed with a career-high 31 points this past Saturday, helping Atlanta beat Thomas’s Phoenix Mercury on the road. That win clinched a playoff berth for the Dream.

The 24-year-old is a three-time All-Star and is playing in her first season in Atlanta since a trade from the Sky this spring. She is averaging more than 16 points per game and leading the league with 12.5 rebounds per game.