After being selected seventh overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft, Angel Reese looks like the second-best rookie in her class behind Caitlin Clark. She has instantly become the league’s best rebounder and a double-double machine. But if there’s one thing you can criticize about her game, it’s her basket sense.

Reese has been by far the worst player in the WNBA when it comes to converting her layup attempts. Her 43.8 percent on shots from under 5 feet sounds bad. Video of some of her recent misses makes it look even worse. Last week she had one of the worst blown layups of the season.

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We know Reese’s finishing skills are bad, but how bad are they? Here’s what the numbers say.

Angel Reese is historically bad at converting layups

The league average for shots from within 5 feet this season is 59.6 percent. No one comes close to Reese’s 43.8 percent of those shots this season.

A hit rate of less than 44 percent on shots from a distance of less than 5 feet is obviously an unacceptably low number. Diana Taurasi has a better chance of making a 25-foot shot (45.2 percent) this season than Reese has of making a layup.

What makes Reese’s lack of finishing even more problematic is the fact that she makes so many layups and leads the league by a long shot with 274 shot attempts. If she were just a little bit better, the Sky’s No. 9 offense would improve dramatically.

It’s not as if Reese has a good jump shot to make up for her weaknesses inside the game. She’s only hitting 31 percent of her mid-range shots and 18 percent of her threes this season. There are some hopeless misses here, too.

You just can’t give Angel Reese open looks like this pic.twitter.com/JXoT4qTJcs

— Heaven! (@HeavensFX) 25 August 2024

If Reese wants to have a positive impact on offense, she’ll need to make layups. There’s reason to hope she can improve. She’s still in her rookie year, and many other All-Stars have made worse shots before becoming very good layups later in their careers.

Reese’s lack of finishing ability shouldn’t take away from her excellent rebounding either. Even if you took away all the rebounds she got from her own missed shots, she would still be the best offensive rebounder in the league.

Thanks to her tremendous effort at the basket, Reese has a real chance to become the best rebounder in league history. On Sunday, she became the only WNBA player to have 20-plus rebounds in three consecutive games. However, she still needs to work on her finishing, which is a real flaw that is holding her back from potential greatness.