Atlanta is throwing two names into the DPOY fight, but one voter is already cutting through the noise. While the Dream are campaigning for both Rhyne Howard and Angel Reese, Reese has already won over at least one official awards voter.
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The Dream recently took to Instagram to roll out their “For Your Consideration” campaign, with both Rhyne Howard and Angel Reese pushed for DPOY honors. Reese was also promoted for All-WNBA and All-Defensive Team recognition, and she clearly welcomed the campaign, reposting the Dream’s graphic to her Instagram Stories.
Reese leads the league in rebounding at 12.4 per game while also holding three WNBA single-season records for total rebounds, offensive rebounds, and double-doubles.
The Dream star has been dominating this season, recording a double-double in almost every other game. She set the WNBA record for most double-doubles in a single season with 29, while also making history with 485 total rebounds. She even set the single-game rebounding record after securing 26 boards against the Los Angeles Sparks on August 24.
This is not Reese’s first brush with Defensive Player of the Year recognition. She won the 2025 Unrivaled DPOY award after leading the league in rebounding and anchoring its best scoring defense. Atlanta has also used this kind of public awards push before, campaigning for Allisha Gray, Naz Hillmon and Karl Smesko in 2025. Reese, however, did not receive a WNBA DPOY vote as a rookie in 2024, making this season’s push a notable step up in how seriously her defensive case is being treated.
But for such a prestigious award, voters and analysts also look beyond individual numbers and consider a player’s overall defensive impact on their team. And even with that in mind, Reese has the vote of national reporter Noa Dalzell.
Dalzell, a senior WNBA writer for SB Nation, is also a WNBA media member with an official awards vote, making her backing far more significant than a typical analyst endorsement.
So, Dalzell has made it clear that she will be backing Angel Reese for DPOY.
For Dalzell, the decision was initially driven by what she saw from Reese on the court. Rather than relying solely on the growing number of analytics available to award voters, Reese’s defensive presence simply appeared to change the Dream’s defense.
Reese has the best defensive rating differential in the WNBA at -15.1, which means Dream opponents score 15.1 more points per 100 possessions when Reese is off the floor compared to when she is on it.
Her presence also correlates with opposing teams becoming less efficient. Angel Reese leads the league in opponent effective field-goal percentage differential (-7.4%), true-shooting percentage differential (-5.6%), and opponent two-point percentage differential (-5.9%). She also leads the WNBA in opponent turnover percentage differential at +3.2%, showing just how much her presence affects opposing offenses.
She even became the first player since 2022, other than A’ja Wilson, to lead the WNBA in defensive win shares, with 2.88. Meanwhile, the Dream have the league’s fourth-best defense, posting a 105 defensive rating and trailing only the Golden State Valkyries, Minnesota Lynx, and Washington Mystics. So all those numbers taken together have secured Angel Reese Dalzell’s vote for DPOY.
Reese also carried that defensive impact to Team USA, averaging five rebounds and 1.2 steals in 15 minutes per game during its FIBA World Cup title run, with FIBA dubbing her the “Queen of the Boards” after a nine-rebound outing against China.
With several elite defenders making their case, the DPOY race remains highly contested. Still, the Atlanta Dream and Noa Dalzell have made it clear who they are backing. So as the final stretch of the regular season arrives, fans will soon find out who takes the honor home.