WNBA Heat Check: Angel Reese looks to stay hot after FIBA break

The WNBA resumes its regular season Thursday after a multi-week break to accommodate the 2026 FIBA World Cup. As players return for the home stretch of the season, we look at who was heating up and who cooled off just before the 18-day hiatus.

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WNBA and FIBA have begun to share the global women’s basketball calendar

FIBA is clearly not the only show in town, but also neither is the WNBA. The 2026 World Cup and shift of future World Cup competitions shows the start of collaboration between the two bodies.

• Jackie Powell,

• Jackie Powell,

▶ HEATING UP 🔥

Aaliyah Edwards, F, Sun

There have been few things to be excited about with the Connecticut Sun, as the team has struggled to win games once again in their farewell season before relocating to Houston and rebranding as the Comets. But Edwards’ progress is one bright spot. Specifically, she was very good in August, averaging 16.8 points and 6.3 rebounds over six games. She scored a career-high 26 points against the Chicago Sky on August 25, and then matched that total again on the 30th against the Dallas Wings in Connecticut’s final game before the FIBA break. She’s on a roll and seems to have found some comfort in her third WNBA season.

Angel Reese, C, Dream

Reese is now in her third WNBA season and continues to increase her production each year. She’s up to 16.1 points per game (a career-high) and has maintained her status as the league’s most dominant rebounder. She’s been on a tear down the stretch of the season, averaging 18.4 points, 14.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 2.6 steals per game on 50.0 percent shooting overall over her last seven games. She also broke the WNBA record for single-season double-doubles in Atlanta’s most recent game, a win over the Minnesota Lynx. She’ll look to close the season strong as the Dream continue to battle for a top-three seed and home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Emily Engstler, F, Fire

The expansion draft offered several WNBA players the opportunity to find a new home and start fresh in a new role — Engstler has excelled in her first season in Portland. She’s started all 40 of the Fire’s contests, setting career highs in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks per game. Her career-best season has only gotten better as the season has progressed. She recently set a new career-high in points (25 points against the Dream just days before the FIBA break), and is averaging 17.0 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.8 stocks over her last five appearances. She took some momentum into the two-week regular-season pause and will have an opportunity to end her season on a high.

▶ COOLING DOWN ❄️

Bridget Carleton, F, Fire

Carleton is enjoying a truly stellar eighth WNBA season, starring in her new role as one of the primary scoring options for the Portland Fire. Yet, she wasn’t quite as crisp in the lead-up to the FIBA World Cup as she had been throughout most of the season. The veteran shot only 4-of-17 from the field and 2-of-11 from beyond the arc across Portland’s final two games before the break. She did, however, stay active on the glass and disruptive on defense, despite the shooting woes. The Fire won’t make the playoffs, but it would be a cool story for Carleton to finish a career-best season on a high note. She’ll have four more games to get back on track.

Temi Fagbenle, C, Tempo

After a nice stretch of games in the middle of August, Fagbenle’s production slipped in Toronto’s final couple of contests before the brief pause in the season. Her minutes were still there, tallying 21 in each of the two contests, but she only scored six points on 2-of-6 shooting. The veteran center is likely to see a similar allocation of minutes over the final four games of the season. Her scoring production will come down to whether or not she can efficiently put the ball in the basket in her limited opportunities.

Sabrina Ionescu, G, Liberty

Ionescu struggled mightily ahead of September’s FIBA World Cup, as she went into the break totaling nine points on 2-of-22 shooting over the Liberty’s two most recent games. The sudden lack of scoring production came at a surprising time, considering the former No. 1 overall pick of the 2020 WNBA Draft had averaged 17.3 points over the four previous games, albeit on inefficient shooting splits. Fortunately for New York, the team walked away from those two outings with one victory. As the Liberty try to make a late-season push for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, they’ll need their dynamic combo guard to find her scoring touch. They face the Minnesota Lynx this Friday.