Dwyane Wade faces fans wrath for lauding Angel Reese’s ‘garbage time stat padding (Credit: Angel Reese, Dwyane Wade/Instagram)

Finishing Friday’s matchup against the Indiana Fever with 10 points and 11 rebounds, Angel Reese earned her 23rd double-double this season, setting a new rookie record for most double-double games in a single season. The Chicago Sky forward also broke the record for most rebounds for a rookie in a season with 399.

After Reese’s historic performance in the 100-81 loss to the Fever, she caught the attention of three-time NBA champion Dwyane Wade, who jumped on X, formerly known as Twitter, to commend the Sky rookie for her excellent first year in the WNBA.

“History in the making ⭐️,” Wade wrote.

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Reese finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds but was blown out by Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. Clark put up a career-high 31 points and 12 assists to outplay Reese in their final matchup of the 2024-25 season.

However, Wade’s remark incurred fans’ wrath, questioning the Miami Heat legend’s stance after perceived stat padding from Angel Reese in the garbage time of their lopsided loss against the Fever.

“Damn I loved you on the heat but seriously man?,” said one fan.

“So losing by 19 points, team 0-5 since return from Olympic Break, team 8-15 when she has a double-double but let’s celebrate anyway right?,” said another fan.

“No way D-wade celebrating some embarrassing stat padding lmao,” said one fan.

Fans pointed out how Reese used the game’s garbage minutes to reach the feat against Clark. The Sky rookie played until the final buzzer, when other starters for both teams were on the bench as the game was already decided.

“She had 5 pts with 3 mins left and scored the rest against 9 bench players,” said one fan.

“You should be ashamed of yoself dwade. Like deadass. Stat padding to break a record in garbage time smh. 🤦🏾‍♂️,” said another fan.

“Celebrate that garbage time double-double. But if you watched the game, you know which rookie deserves her flowers!” said another fan.

Despite Angel Reese’s efforts, the loss dragged the Sky to an 11-20 record, putting them just 1.0 games behind the ninth-seed Atlanta Dream.

Angel Reese alleges referee bias toward Caitlin Clark

In a video circulated during the Fever-Sky game, Angel Reese was heard alleging that the referees were biased toward Clark regarding calls she was getting. The sequence involved Reese talking to her teammate Diamond DeShields, where they both shared the same frustration.

Here is how the instance unfolded:

It was not the first time Reese made such a claim. During their June 17 matchup, Reese commented that “some people are getting special whistles,” which was then referred to as Clark.

In that game, Angel Reese was called for a flagrant foul on Clark after hitting her in the face. The Fever also won that game. Indiana finished its season series with the upper hand, 3-1, against the Sky.

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