Before the 2026 season, Angel Reese just couldn’t find a way to impress seven-time WNBA All-Star Candace Parker. Despite averaging 13.5 points and 13.1 rebounds per game, Parker ranked the then-Chicago Sky player a C back in July 2025. But this season, after Angel Reese led the Atlanta Dream all the way to the Finals, the Hall of Famer was forced to change her tune.
Speaking on her podcast ‘Post Moves’, which she co-hosts with Indiana Fever star Aliyah Boston, Candace Parker admitted her mistake in ranking Reese that low last year. The tier list ranged from S all the way to D, and Reese found a place in the second-worst category in a segment she did for Complex Sports, a tier Reese shared with Los Angeles Sparks forward Cameron Brink. But the recent X upload from the podcast shows Parker addressing her previous ranking.
“A lot of times people are coming at me about the tier ranking,” Candace Parker said. “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. I’m sure there are a lot of teams in the WNBA draft that wish they could redraft.”
“I was wrong,” she added. “They’re in the finals. 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.”
Reese was drafted into the WNBA in 2024, the same year as Caitlin Clark, with the seventh overall pick by the Sky, and she has been lighting up the stat sheet non-stop since then. Reese has led the league in rebounding every year she has been in the W, and it was no different the year of Parker’s ranking. But that was not enough for Parker, who, despite praising Reese for her progress, couldn’t rank her above a C, as she said in the Complex Sports interview from July 2025.
“I think in terms of being above [Tier C], you have to carry your team, be a one- or two-option. I think Angel Reese is fantastic at her role, which is offensive rebounding. She showed and demonstrated so much growth in that first year.”
The reason the year-old clip is going viral again is that Angel Reese’s 2026 campaign is like nothing we’ve seen from her before. Reese was traded to the Dream, and this turned out to be one of the best decisions for her career.
Reese was now paired with Rhyne Howard, Jordin Canada, and Allisha Gray to form one of the best teams the W has seen all season. Reese’s scoring has seen a bump, going from 14.7 in 2025 to 16.4 in 2026. Her offensive rebounding, a skill Parker noted as her primary role, has gone from 4.1 per game to 4.8 per game.
This year, almost like clockwork now, Reese led the Dream and the league in regular-season rebounding with 12.1 RPG. Her 1.8 steals and 0.7 blocks, along with 7.3 defensive rebounds per game, won her the Defensive Player of the Year award in only her third year in the league. The Dream, led by Reese, and the core of Howard, Canada, and Gray, marched unchecked to the playoffs, with a record of 30-14, clinching the fourth seed and home-court advantage.
They went on to sweep the Washington Mystics 2-0 in the first round of the playoffs, and followed this with another 3-0 sweep of the New York Liberty in the second round. Over these five games, Reese has averaged 18 PPG along with 8.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game. She has definitively proven her haters, and especially Parker, wrong with her performance so far this season.
It now remains to be seen if Reese and Co. can overcome their final hurdle, the Golden State Valkyries. The Valkyries entered the Finals after sweeping the defending champions, the Las Vegas Aces, in a 3-0 series. The question is, can Reese and the Dream work past the stifling defense of the Valkyries, led by Gabby Williams, to clinch their first WNBA Championship ever?
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The post “I Was Wrong”: Candace Parker Addresses Angel Reese Tier Rankings Going Viral for the Wrong Reasons Before WNBA Finals appeared first on EssentiallySports. Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.