Grant Afseth Tue, October 13, 2026 at 9:05 PM UTC · 4 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Four days before Angel Reese plays in her first WNBA Finals, Candace Parker said she was wrong about her.
Parker made the comment on Post Moves, her podcast with Indiana Fever center Aliyah Boston, in a clip the show posted to X on Tuesday.
Boston's season ended in the first round against the Las Vegas Aces. Reese and the Atlanta Dream open the Finals on Saturday against the Golden State Valkyries.
In July 2025, Parker sorted 10 WNBA players into tiers for a Complex Sports segment.
A'ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, and Breanna Stewart went in the top S tier. Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Plum, and Sabrina Ionescu went in the A tier. Arike Ogunbowale and Paige Bueckers made the B tier, and Reese landed in the C tier with Cameron Brink.
"I put her right at that C level," Parker said in the segment. "I think Angel Reese is fantastic at her role, which is offensive rebounding."
Reese was in her second season with the Chicago Sky at the time.
Parker defended the list on the Good Follow podcast on July 22, 2025, and returned to it on Post Moves, where she asked which of the nine other players on the list anyone would take Reese over.
Chicago traded Reese to Atlanta on April 6, 2026. The Sky received the Dream's first-round picks in 2027 and 2028, and the two teams will swap second-round picks in 2028.
In 64 games with Chicago, Reese averaged 14.1 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 2.7 assists and made two All-Star teams.
Reese became the first player in WNBA history to reach 500 rebounds in a season and finished with 521, a single-season record.
Her 206 offensive rebounds were also a single-season record. So were her 32 double-doubles. She led the league at 12.1 rebounds per game.
Reese averaged 1.8 steals per game, third in the WNBA. That was a career high, and so were her 77 total steals.
She has said Dream coach Karl Smesko pushed her 3-point development .
On Oct. 1, the league named Reese its 2026 Defensive Player of the Year. She received 46 of 74 votes, and Gabby Williams finished second with 20.
Reese is the first Dream player to win the award, which Parker won in 2020 with the Los Angeles Sparks.
Atlanta went 30-14 and was the fourth seed.
Reese went seventh in the 2024 draft. The Sparks took Brink, Parker's other C-tier pick, second.
"Angel Reese has been dominant," Parker explained. "A lot of times people are coming at me about the tiers ranking. When I filmed this, obviously she'd only been in the league one year. And they were asking me to compare her against players like Breanna Stewart and A'ja Wilson and things like that."
"The tremendous growth that she's made and the impact," Parker continued. "I'm sure there are a lot of teams in the WNBA draft that wish they could redraft."
"I think a serious thing that I'm not going back down on is that in the WNBA, a lot of times in the past years, everything has been so positive," Parker added. "But now there is a time and a place for honest opinion. And so that's the only thing that I want to keep it at is come at me about my opinion."
Clark went first to the Fever. Brink, Kamilla Cardoso, Rickea Jackson, Jacy Sheldon, and Aaliyah Edwards followed.
In the first round, Atlanta beat the Washington Mystics 92-77 at home and 93-75 in Washington.
The New York Liberty went down in three straight in the semifinals: 92-82, 101-98 in overtime, and 85-83.
Reese had 22 points in the Game 3 clincher on Oct. 9, and Rhyne Howard added 21.
It is the Dream's first Finals appearance since 2013.
Parker played 16 WNBA seasons and won titles with the Sparks in 2016, the Sky in 2021, and the Aces in 2023.
"I was wrong," Parker said. "They're in the final. She's Defensive Player of the Year. There's no hate. I am just giving my opinion. So congratulations to Angel Reese and the Dream for making the finals."
"And I remember as a player finding motivation in what talking heads said," Parker noted. "So I can relate to that. I remember Rebecca Lobo never picked us and neither did Kara Lawson. I had a personal vendetta against them. So therefore, whatever needs to be your motivation, glad to provide it. But let's keep it basketball."
Golden State went 32-12 as the second seed and swept the defending champion Aces in the semifinals. The Valkyries won all three regular-season meetings with Atlanta.
Dream guard Allisha Gray is day-to-day after a hand procedure .
The Dream moved their Finals home games to State Farm Arena after schedule changes.
Game 1 is Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET at Chase Center in San Francisco. NBC and Peacock will carry it.
Source: Sports
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