How Angel Reese manifested her Dream en route to the WNBA Finals: 'We're all here for a reason'

NEW YORK — Call her Finals Barbie. Her accessories include "mebounds," a freshly acquired 3-point shot and a vision board come to life. On her mind is speaking positivity into her life. One in particular stood out.

"manifesting the finals>>>" she wrote on X the night the Las Vegas Aces clinched the 2025 championship over the Phoenix Mercury.

From dream world to reality, Barbie. And in exactly 364 days and 23 hours. Reese will play in her first WNBA Finals, and the Dream in their first since 2013, after sweeping the 2024 champion New York Liberty in the semifinals . They won Game 3, 85-83, to earn eight days off before the Finals begin on Oct. 17.

"I knew I wanted to be here," Reese said of her ascension. "I knew this moment I'm supposed to be here at this very time."

Reese does not typically share the goals on her vision board, though she divulged at the beginning of the series that it included Defensive Player of the Year . Reaching the playoffs, she said, was technically there, but after a preseason trade from the Chicago Sky to the Atlanta Dream, she had no doubt it was reachable.

That same night of the 2025 Finals, she sent a text to former Sky champion Kahleah Copper, who was on the losing side of the Aces' title sweep.

"I said last year, give me one playoff game, and I'm going to make it to the Finals," Reese said ahead of Game 3. "And I'm here now."

The No. 4 Dream are 5-0 in the playoffs after a sweep of the No. 5 Washington Mystics, a young group that outperformed its stature, and the No. 8 New York Liberty, a veteran one that underperformed its talent. It's largely on the back of Reese, a player Dream head coach Karl Smesko and players described as the engine of the team.

The Dream go as she goes, and she went hard this series. Reese averaged 20.7 points and 7.6 rebounds over the three semifinal games. Her outsized presence in the paint, alongside the league's three leaders in steals, shut down the Liberty's ball movement and offensive threats. They barely led in the series, and couldn't hold onto a five-point lead at the beginning of the fourth. The Dream held New York scoreless from 9:26 of the fourth to 2:55, by which time Atlanta held an 81-75 lead.

The matchup between Reese and Liberty center Jonquel Jones lived up to the billing as most imperative to the series. Jones' own engine was in full gear for Game 3 with an early block of Reese, an offensive rebound and putback, and forcing Reese off course. Jones finished with 26 points (11 of 17) and 14 rebounds, countering Reese's 22 and 9. She was 7 of 18, her least efficient game of the series.

Reese is a master at, and makes no quiet deal of, getting under one's skin. It bubbled over in Game 3. In the second quarter, she dashed over to Sabrina Ionescu after the guard was called for an offensive foul on the screen and jawed at her all the way down the sideline. The teams converged; on her way back to the bench, Reese riled up the crowd.

Later in the frame, Jones denied Reese at the basket again, and they went face-to-face. A double technical was assessed for taunting.

Reese wasn't even on a legitimate contender when she clicked "post" on her social-media manifestation. The Sky, the team that drafted her No. 7 overall in 2024, finished tied for the worst record in the league. She had yet to reach the playoffs, despite 75% of the league making it in her rookie year when there were 12 teams.

She sent it after her season ended early and amid controversy when she said in an interview that for the Sky's front office, it was a "non-negotiable" that they needed to bring in "great players."

"So it's going to be very, very important this offseason to make sure we attract the best of the best because we can't settle for what we have this year," Reese told the Chicago Tribune .

When they could make a move after the collective bargaining agreement was approved, the Sky sent her to Atlanta. Her statements last fall weren't exactly manifestations. But they came true. She joined a stacked roster of all-WNBA talent fresh off a first-round exit in the playoffs.

"This is really going to make goals easier to attain," Reese said.

Smesko, the collegiate coach known for listing all of his players as "shooters," helped develop her game further than the rebounding for which she was best known. At one practice, he stopped drills until she made two 3s in a row in front of everyone.

It took patience then, and again throughout the season. The coaching staff encouraged her to shoot when it was available, knowing pre-All-Star they might not fall. But after All-Star, it would become natural.

She made 11 3s in the regular season, more than the seven combined she hit in her first two seasons in Chicago. In the semifinals, she made one each in the first two games. In Game 3, she hit two. The Dream have never lost when she hits a 3-pointer.

"That hasn't been something I've been able to show a lot, but now me being able to be confident in it, I think is probably my biggest thing coming to Atlanta," Reese said.

Her confidence in general, she said, "just continues to go through the roof." She credits the teammates and trust, in addition to adversity in Chicago and what was then described as a drop to No. 7 in the draft. She took advantage of her destiny, she said before Game 3.

Here she is after it, taking a victory lap of Barclays and snapping photos with fans and Dream personnel, headed to her first Finals.

"I'm just so thankful and I'm blessed to be able to be in this situation," Reese said. "A lot of people wish they were here, and I'm not gonna take this moment for granted. I'm here for a reason. We're all here for a reason."