Angel Reese has explained the reason behind the weekend press conference absence that led to her and the Chicago Sky being fined by the WNBA.

On Sunday, the WNBA announced that Reese and the Sky had failed to follow the league’s rules on media responsibilities after the 22-year-old failed to attend the postgame press conference following the team’s 71-70 loss to the Indiana Fever the day before.

A press release from the league read: “Angel Reese of the Chicago Sky has been fined $1,000 for failing to make herself available to the media for interviews following the game on Saturday, June 1 vs Indiana, the WNBA announced today. In addition, the Sky organization has been fined $5,000 for failing to ensure that all players comply with WNBA media policies.”

The league’s postgame media access policy states that no later than ten minutes following the game, each head coach and two players, usually the leading scorer and key contributor, per team must be available in the separate press conference rooms for in-person and Zoom media.

It continues that any players not participating at the podium may be requested for interviews and will be required to be available to attend their media duty. The Sky brought Chennedy Carter and Kamilla Cardoso to the podium, meaning that Reese was supposed to be available to speak to the media in person outside the locker room.

Angel Reese© @byjuliapoe / X

Following practice on Monday, Reese revealed her reasons for missing the press conference, she explained: “I mean everybody knows, I’ve been great with media and I’ve always taken on media. Obviously, I take accountability for it but it was a lot of miscommunications with media, the timeline of everything.

Does WNBA Need to Change Its Media Policy?
While the WNBA does not allow media members into the locker room, Angel Reese was fined for not speaking to the media. Does this policy need a change given the eyes that are now on the league?

But the larger issue is the sky,

“Obviously trying to make time for media, I’ve always made time for all of you guys, obviously that was something on my behalf I wasn’t able to do at that moment just because of the timeline of it but making sure moving forward that I take time out for you guys (media) as well. But my family came, I had a lot going on as well.”

Reese finished the game against the Fever with eight points and 13 rebounds, taking her average to 10.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.3 steals a game this season. She is currently second in scoring and first in rebounding and steals among rookies, with her 5.0 offensive rebounds per game leading the league.