Angel Reese exits the game injured after posting a disappointing stat line against the former team

Angel Reese’s eventful weekend ended with an injury and his worst performance of the season.

The Atlanta Dream star left Sunday afternoon’s game against his former club, the Chicago Sky, after his left leg appeared to give out while trying to rally early in the fourth quarter.

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Reese fell to the ground after missing the shot, got back to his feet and went down again. He eventually returned to Atlanta’s bench, but the Dream took him out the rest of the game with a left leg injury.

But Reese wasn’t playing very well before leaving the game.

And that’s actually putting it kindly.

The 24-year-old finished with eight points and five rebounds in 20 minutes. He shot an abysmal 3-of-13 from the field, missed his only three-point attempt and had three turnovers. He finished with a minus-7 rating in Atlanta’s 93-91 victory. His 7 strikeouts were the worst among Dream players, and he committed three errors.

It’s not good.

In addition, Reese grabbed just one defensive rebound. Four of his five rebounds came on the offensive end, including two “mebounds” where he grabbed his own rebound after missing a short shot.

That has become a regular part of Angel Reese’s experience.

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She is undoubtedly one of the best players in women’s basketball. He also regularly flips those totals by scoring points around the basket, including his own.

On Sunday, even that wasn’t enough to make the box score look respectable.

Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese sits on the bench against the Chicago Sky in the first quarter at Gateway Center Arena. (Brett Davis/Getty Images)

Reese entered the game averaging 15.7 points and a league-leading 11.8 double-doubles per contest. He recorded 23 points and 12 rebounds against Toronto on Friday, his league-leading 17th double-double of the season.

He followed that performance by missing 10 of 13 shots from the team that traded him during the offseason.

The bad exit was not caused by injuries.

Reese had logged 20 minutes before being injured 14 seconds into fourth.

Also, injuries are unfortunate. There’s nothing funny about player injuries, and the hope is that Reese avoids anything serious.

After the game, Dream coach Karl Smesko said Reese was very happy celebrating with his teammates.

According to WNBA reporter Wilton Jackson, Smesko noted that Reese “wanted to go out and continue playing” but “didn’t feel comfortable about it because he looked like he was in a lot of pain.”

Without the injury, it’s hard to see how bad Reese was before the injury.

Luckily for the All-Star striker, his teammates bailed him out.

Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese posted his worst stats of the season against the Chicago Sky on Sunday before leaving with a knee injury. (Joe Boatman/NBAE via Getty Images)

Atlanta built a 22-point lead before allowing Chicago to erase the deficit. Dream led by one point when Reese exited.

Atlanta guard Jordin Canada made the game-winning layup as time expired and the dream escaped with a 93-91 victory over the 9-17 Sky.

The Dream improved to 16-10 and Reese is now 2-0 against the Sky since Atlanta acquired him with two first-round picks in April.

Still, this wasn’t quite the revenge Reese might have envisioned against his former team.

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He missed more shots (10) than either points (8) or rebounds (5). He also turned the ball over three times and made three fouls before injuring his leg.

The good news for Atlanta is that they don’t play again until July 29, which gives Reese plenty of time to recover. The bad news is that the WNBA All-Star Game is on July 25 and the league is selecting Reese to play in that game.

Say what you will about Reese, but she is arguably the second greatest player in the league behind Caitlin Clark. Despite this poor performance, there is no question that Reese adds intrigue to the All-Star Game.

I hope he recovers in time to play.