Angel Reese Pauses 'Unapologetically Angel' Podcast for Six Months After Finals

WNBA star Angel Reese is pausing her weekly podcast, "Unapologetically Angel," for the league's offseason, telling fans she plans to spend the next six months in Florida focused on rest, training and her personal life. Reese shared the plan on Monday, Nov. 2, in a post on Instagram, two days after the Atlanta Dream lost Game 7 of the WNBA Finals to the Golden State Valkyries, as reported by Bleacher Report, BlackSportsOnline and the industry newsletter Podcast News Daily.

The show is part of Playmaker and Shaquille O'Neal's Big Podcast Network, and Podcast News Daily described it as a two-year-old weekly program in which Reese talks with friends and other athletes. Reese did not say the show is ending. Her message described a break for the offseason, with occasional videos on her YouTube channel in the meantime.

What Reese told fans

According to BlackSportsOnline, which cited a post shared by Complex, the message appeared on Reese's barbieeearchive Instagram account. "i'm dedicating this off season to myself," she wrote. "i won't be doing my podcast this off season but you can expect some vlogs from time to time. so subscribe to my YOUTUBE."

Reese said Florida would be her base for the break. "florida will be my home & i will be there resting, working out, continuing to work on my personal brand quietly, and supporting/ loving on my partner," she wrote, adding that these were "things that i love to do that brings me so much PEACE." Outlets reproduced the post with slightly different capitalization and wording; the quotations here follow the BlackSportsOnline transcription, and the Florida passage appears in the same form in The Mirror US.

Reese's partner, Wendell Carter Jr., plays center for the NBA's Orlando Magic, and Marca noted that he spends the NBA regular season in Florida. Marca also reported that the podcast had remained active until April 3. The Mirror US reported that Reese will also take a break from her Barbie Archives Instagram page, which it said has more than 73,000 followers.

How the podcast started

Reese launched "Unapologetically Angel" in 2024, during her rookie season with the Chicago Sky. Sports Business Journal reported in August 2024 that she had decided to "jump into the podcasting world" with a weekly video podcast set to premiere Sept. 5 as part of "The Big Podcast Network," a division of Playmaker HQ. Reese said at the time that she wanted the show to be a place for "authentic and unfiltered conversations" about basketball, fashion and entertainment.

According to Action Network, whose parent company, Better Collective, also owns Playmaker HQ, Reese was joined by co-host Maya Reese, who is not related to her, with new episodes planned every Thursday and released on YouTube and podcast platforms. The Playmaker network also carries The OGs with Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem and The Roommates Show with Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, Action Network reported. BlackSportsOnline, citing the Chicago Sun-Times, reported that the show has featured Black artists, athletes and public figures.

A season that ended in Game 7

The announcement followed the first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history. The Valkyries beat the Dream 68-63 on Saturday night, Oct. 31, at Chase Center in San Francisco to win their first championship in just their second season, according to the Associated Press recap published by WNBA.com and reporting by SFGate. Gabby Williams scored 30 points for Golden State. Jordin Canada scored 18 and Allisha Gray 16 for Atlanta, while Reese finished with eight points and 12 rebounds.

The loss capped what Bleacher Report described as the best season of Reese's career. In her first year in Atlanta after a trade from the Chicago Sky, she averaged 16.4 points, 12.1 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game, won her first Defensive Player of the Year award and was named to the All-WNBA Second Team and the All-Defensive First Team. The Dream went 30-14 in the regular season and reached their first WNBA Finals since 2013. Over 12 playoff games, Reese averaged 16.1 points and 11 rebounds, according to The Mirror US.

Speaking to reporters after Game 7, Reese said, "It's tough. Especially with a good group, a great group, that I've honestly had the honor to battle with all year," according to Bleacher Report. She added, "I'm just really grateful I got to go to war with this group. I would do it again, all over again."

In a separate social media post after the Finals, reported by The Mirror US, Reese wrote, "I'm still numb from how it ended, but I realize not many get to experience this in just their 3rd year in the league." She also wrote, "Every loss is a lesson & sometimes it's not NO, just NOT YET. Delayed, not denied. Trust me, I'm HUNGRY for more." That post closed with a message to her new city: "Atlanta, you've meant the world to me in just 7 months." She ended it with "Back to work! See y'all in 6 months."

Offseason plans beyond the microphone

The break appears to extend beyond podcasting. Bleacher Report reported that Reese was not among the 48 players announced for this year's roster of Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 league in which she played the previous two offseasons, suggesting she will not take part this winter.

Reese has not announced a specific return date for "Unapologetically Angel," and no date for new episodes had been published in the reports cited here. In the meantime, she has pointed fans to her YouTube channel for occasional vlogs.