Far be it from me, or any of the other 28,426,891 estimated people who have their own podcast, to cast aspersions on WNBA rookie star Angel Reese for having one of her own.
However, as social media users pointed out, it might help her cause some if she spent less time in front of a mic and more time in front of the basket, trying to perfect her low-post offensive skills — which, to be quite blunt, are wretched.
Reese, the No. 7 pick in this year’s WNBA draft by the Chicago Sky out of Louisiana State University, has been one of two rookie sensations that have catapulted the women’s game to new heights. She’s still a distant second to the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark in the running for Rookie of the Year honors, and the Sky have dropped off in the second half of the season, barely holding on to the last playoff spot while the Fever have surged.
However, Reese is still a bona fide star, which means it’s time for her to join every other slightly famous (or even completely unknown) people who can talk and wants to be heard in starting her own podcast.
“Little miss keeps a bag, makes yall mad, stays in yall bag, never cared about what yall say about her, basketball player, model, business women, broadcaster, influencer, and actress ETC. is starting her own podcast!” she said on X Tuesday, announcing the start of the podcast, “Unapologetically Angel.”
“I’m taking my voice back & clearing all the false narratives. I hope yall ready.”
“Y’all gonna see your favorite celebrities, actress[es], artists, anybody that y’all wanna see,” she said in the announcement video. “We gonna be spilling the tea from our voice, our narrative, our perspective, before the blogs — which y’all think you’re clocking tea, y’all not clocking no tea — cause we’re gonna spill the tea on our real lives, period.”
Little miss keeps a bag, makes yall mad, stays in yall bag, never cared about what yall say about her, basketball player, model, business women, broadcaster, influencer, and actress ETC. is starting her own podcast! I’m taking my voice back & clearing all the false narratives. I… https://t.co/2RIIqjQkQR
— Angel Reese (@Reese10Angel) August 27, 2024
Do you like Angel Reese?
For those of you who are terminally wedded to a more formal, boomer-esque deployment of the English language, “tea” is a synonym for “gossip” or “hot take,” depending on the context. Basically, Reese says she and her friends will set the records straight before the “blogs” do.
I could digress about repeatedly deploying the relatively modern slang term “tea” while talking about the reporting on “blogs” — a quaint phenomenon many of you youngsters might not be familiar with, as it was a form of self-publishing replaced by social media monoliths sometime around 2010.
But I won’t, because there’s a bigger problem at play here — a problem that social media was all too eager to call her out on:
little miss can’t make a layup if her life depended on it
— KARIM (@karimo714) August 27, 2024
Why are you referring to yourself in third person when you’re shooting 29% from the field?
— J. Mulholland (@MulhollandL0ver) August 27, 2024
Why are you referring to yourself in third person when you’re shooting 29% from the field?
— J. Mulholland (@MulhollandL0ver) August 27, 2024
We got a Podcast with Angel before a efficient WNBA season from the field pic.twitter.com/KgQkqF79GW
— rodlo 🪬 (@roddystr) August 27, 2024
Yes, Reese may be a hall-of-famer in the making, but the key words there are “in the making.” The big honking red flag in her stat line is her shooting percentage, particularly as it relates to scoring in the post — a rather large problem for a post player.
Take one of the most fundamental finishing moves imaginable. A layup, even those who aren’t basketball fans know, is a slang term for an easy thing to do, because it’s an easy shot to make if you’re a pro basketball player. Unless, that is, you’re Angel Reese:
Now, as Sports Illustrated noted, while this may be “a glaring flaw, it is also an easy path for improvement. Beyond adding other dimensions to her game, like a a go-to move or a face-up jumper, Reese can make a big leap simply by making more layups.”
Not by recording podcasts. That’s not a path to improvement. Unless, of course, she can somehow rig the studio so she practices layups while she records.
There’s also another great irony in Reese starting this podcast because, from what it sounds like, she wants to clap back at the haters she doesn’t care about:
If you didn’t care what people say about you, why would you start a podcast to clear false narratives
— keegan murray glazer (@horkage1) August 27, 2024
Exactly. If Reese improves her game, she’ll be a perennial all star and a WNBA legend. In complete fairness to her, Reese is genuinely putting up Ben Wallace- or Dennis Rodman-esque rebounding totals (and showing the same lack of offense that pigeonholed those two NBA legends as defensive specialists). They say living well is the best revenge. Becoming a living legend is an even greater revenge, if you ask me.
But, no. Angel Reese would rather spend her time making sure everyone knows the tea. Because what the world needs is yet another podcast. This is a woman with priorities, folks.
Just not the right ones, but priorities nonetheless.
