Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese was named the 2026 Kia WNBA Defensive Player of the Year on Thursday, becoming the first player in franchise history to win the league’s top individual defensive award.
Reese took 46 of 74 votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Golden State Valkyries forward Gabby Williams finished second with 20 votes.
Angel Reese named 2026 Kia WNBA Defensive Player of the Year
Three-time winner A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces placed third with four, followed by Washington’s Shakira Austin (two) and one vote each for Golden State’s Veronica Burton and Dream teammate Rhyne Howard.
The honor arrived in her first season in Atlanta and her third in the league, one day after the Dream completed a first-round sweep of the Washington Mystics—their first playoff series win in eight years. Atlanta finished 30-14, tied the franchise record for wins, claimed the best record in the Eastern Conference, and earned the No. 4 seed. The Dream host the New York Liberty in the semifinals on Sunday.
Reese had telegraphed the award months earlier. “I told my coaches earlier in the season I am going to be the Defensive Player of the Year,” she told ESPN. “I don’t know if it’s going to be this year, I don’t know if it’s going to be next year, but I’m challenging myself, and I want you guys to challenge me every day to be that. And here it is.” In the team’s announcement she shared the credit: “I have the trophy, but I definitely want Jordin and Rhyne to sign it because I think they deserve it just as much as I do. I’m grateful for Atlanta, I’m grateful for my teammates and my coaches and all the supporting staff that supports us. This is just the beginning.”
The numbers backed the claim. Reese led the WNBA in defensive win shares (3.39) and ranked fourth in defensive rating (100.0). Atlanta allowed 7.9 fewer points per 100 possessions with her on the floor than off it, the largest defensive on/off differential among Dream rotation players. The Dream ranked third in the league in defensive rating (103.5) and held opponents to a league-low 9.5 second-chance points per game.
She ranked third in steals per game (1.8) and total steals (77), both career highs, trailing only teammates Rhyne Howard (2.3) and Jordin Canada (1.9). She also finished third in defensive rebounds (315) and fourth in defensive rebounds per game (7.3). Dream coach Karl Smesko said Reese “can guard any position” and “relishes these opportunities.”
The defensive case was inseparable from a historic rebounding year. Reese became the first player in WNBA history to reach 500 rebounds in a season, finishing with single-season records of 521 total rebounds and 206 offensive rebounds. She also set the single-game record with 26 rebounds in a road win over the Los Angeles Sparks on August 24 and the single-season double-double record with 32. She led the league at 12.1 rebounds per game, averaged a career-high 16.4 points, and was one of only two players to average a double-double. She earned Peak Performer honors as the league’s leading rebounder, made her third consecutive All-Star team, and closed the regular season with three straight Eastern Conference Player of the Week awards—the first Dream player to do so.
It is also the first Defensive Player of the Year award for an Eastern Conference player since Sylvia Fowles with Chicago in 2013. Reese, 24, had never previously been named to an All-Defensive team or received a DPOY vote. The award carries a $30,000 prize and a commemorative trophy.
For Atlanta, the selection closes a first year that already rewrote franchise and league records. For Reese, it is the defensive recognition that her rebounding dominance had not yet produced—and, in her words, only the beginning.