{"id":583052,"date":"2026-04-14T05:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T05:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/583052\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T05:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T05:44:13","slug":"angel-reese-excited-by-dreams-madina-okot-first-round-draft-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/583052\/","title":{"rendered":"Angel Reese excited by Dream&#8217;s Madina Okot first-round draft pick"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Atlanta\u2019s pick at this year\u2019s WNBA draft appears to be a Dream come true for the team\u2019s newest star, Angel Reese.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Dream picked South Carolina product Madina Okot with the 13th overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft, which drew plenty of excitement from Reese, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/06\/sports\/angel-reese-traded-by-sky-after-different-direction-threats\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">who the team acquired as part of a trade <\/a>with the Sky last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYAY! MADINA!!! Another walking double double!! LET\u2019S GOOOO!!!\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Reese10Angel\/status\/2043847177965871251\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Reese wrote<\/a>, along with a happy face emoji with heart eyes, on X.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39078541\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-qualifier-new-zealand-usa-125168040.jpg\" alt=\"Basketball player Angel Reese of USA in a red jersey with number 9 and the text &quot;USA&quot; looks on during a game.\" class=\"wp-image-39078541\"  \/>Angel Reese of USA looks on during the Women\u2019s World Cup 2026 Qualifier between New Zealand and USA at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico Jos\u00e9 Miguel Agrelot on March 15, 2026  FIBA via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>There does seem to be plenty of reason for Reese and company to be excited about the pick with the 6-foot-6 senior averaging a double-double for the Gamecocks during the 2025-26 season, scoring 12.1 points and pulling down 10.6 rebounds per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Okot also added 1.4 blocks and 1.3 steals while shooting 57.5 percent from the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019ll be part of helping to fill the void with Brittney Griner heading to Connecticut via free agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Dream general manager Dan Padover suggested that Okot\u2019s size was what led Atlanta to take her.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mean, at that size, to be able to crash the boards, she\u2019s learned to stretch the floor, very talented and skilled,\u201d he told reporters, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WiltonReports\/status\/2043870763418091592\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">according to reporter Wilton C. Jackson II<\/a>. \u201c\u2026[She] just started playing basketball pretty recently, so we\u2019re just starting to see what she can do. And I think the ceiling is very far away from where she\u2019s at right now. And you know, Karl [Smesko] and the coaches are just really excited to work with her and get started.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39078538\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/wnba-commissioner-cathy-engelbert-left-125592063.jpg\" alt=\"WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and Madina Okot pose with Okot's Atlanta Dream jersey.\" class=\"wp-image-39078538\"  \/>WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert (left) poses for photos with Madina Okot who was selected thirteenth overall by the Atlanta Dream during the 2026 WNBA Draft at The Shed at Hudson Yards.  Brad Penner-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Okot said during her post-draft press conference that she was \u201cjust so excited for the moment\u201d of getting picked.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Reese joins Atlanta after leading the WNBA in double-doubles with 23, and averaging 14.7 points and 3.7 assists per game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Atlanta\u2019s pick at this year\u2019s WNBA draft appears to be a Dream come true for the team\u2019s newest&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[3691,3444,99,434,2940],"class_list":{"0":"post-583052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-angel-reese","9":"tag-atlanta-dream","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba","12":"tag-wnba-draft"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}