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Sydney Sweeney shares cheeky boat trip photos with boyfriend Scooter Braun
Sydney Sweeney is sharing a cheeky snapshot of her man "taking her to the moon."
Earlier this week, Sweeney shared a carousel of images to Instagram during a recent boating trip to Lake Powell, Arizona.
"when your man takes you to the moon🌒," Sweeney captioned her post. The post started with a Polaroid image of Sweeney in a one-piece red bathing suit.
The next slide shows Sweeney water-skiing with just one ski off the back of a boat. She also wakeboarded with a friend on her back and included a solo shot of herself wakeboarding.
There was a second Polaroid image of Sweeney and her boyfriend, Scooter Braun, on the boat. In the image, Sweeney is wearing a one-piece bathing suit, and the image is taken from behind. Sweeney was standing above Braun as he wrapped her arms around her waist and smiled up at her.
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It appeared to be a friend trip since Sweeney included several snaps with friends dancing, hiking and enjoying time together.
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Sweeney and music executive Braun were first linked after meeting at Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s wedding in Venice in June 2025.
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They reportedly began dating later that year after Sweeney ended her engagement to Jonathan Davino, and Braun’s divorce from Yael Cohen was finalized. The couple made their relationship Instagram official in spring 2026, and they have continued to appear together publicly, including trips and outings with Braun’s children.
Hasan Piker vows he will pressure James Talarico to govern as a leftist, not a moderate
Left-wing streamer Hasan Piker vowed Wednesday that he would push Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico to govern as a leftist rather than a moderate Democrat if Talarico was elected.
"Hopefully, after James Talarico wins, we’ve got to hold him to account," Piker said during a campus event at the University of Texas at Austin. "We've got to make sure that he doesn’t become another, ‘do nothing Democrat’ ‘business as usual,’ and we've got to keep up that pressure.
"We have to remind him that we are the force that backed him both early on," he continued. "We are the force that allowed him to win this seat of power and if he wants to maintain it, he’s got to play ball. Right?
"And that’s good to build a resilient movement anyway, so job’s not done even after he wins," Piker added. "So, just remember that, and, you know, remember that we do hold a lot of power in mass organizing."
UNIVERSITY EVENT WITH HASAN PIKER IN TEXAS DRAWS BACKLASH FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE
Fox News Digital reached out to Talarico's campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response.Â
Talarico has moderated his rhetoric during his run for Senate, disavowing some of his past statements.
Piker, an internet personality popular on the Twitch platform, has become a major player in left-wing politics in recent years and has a long history of controversial comments, ranging from saying "America deserved 9/11" to praising an official in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration after a clip showed her saying she wanted to "impoverish the White middle class."
Proximity to Piker has been a lightning rod for Democrats. Since the left-wing streamer appeared with Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed on the campaign trail, the candidate repeatedly tried to shrug off Piker’s controversial remarks.
Jesse Arm, a Manhattan Institute vice president and pollster from Michigan, wondered whether Talarico’s avowed moderation will stick.
"Talarico is wise to acknowledge, in effect, that many of his past comments on key policy questions were absurd, but Texans have reason to wonder whether his convictions have changed or merely his political incentives," he told Fox News Digital.Â
"If he is as wise a lawmaker as he is a crafty politician, he will govern as the more moderate liberal he currently purports to be.
"Hasan Piker’s faction can certainly exert pressure," he added. "And I would expect it to push Talarico back toward his earlier, more radical positions on policing, gender, race, immigration and energy."
A better indicator, he argued, was the fact that genuinely moderate Democrats have been driven out of office.
"We cannot know how Talarico would govern, but the broader Democratic Party gives us plenty of reason for skepticism: Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema were driven out, and John Fetterman faces endless hostility for breaking with its activist orthodoxy," he said.Â
"Governing as a genuine moderate would give Talarico a better chance of keeping a Texas Senate seat beyond an unusually favorable Democratic election cycle, but Piker is already openly demanding that he ‘play ball’ with the far left."
Arm suggested Piker might actually be making a tactical mistake by suggesting Democrats are only campaigning as moderates but will govern like leftists.
"Above perhaps all else, this episode exposes Piker’s political stupidity: publicly suggesting that a candidate’s moderation is temporary and that radicals will call the shots threatens the very victory he claims to want," Arm said.Â
"In truth, I suspect Piker would prefer an election cycle in which Talarico comes up short, but El-Sayed gets across the finish line. That would help advance Piker’s position that radicalism is the only viable path forward for the Democratic Party."
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Former Democratic advisor Dan Turrentine suggested Piker has vastly overestimated his importance both now and after the election.
"Hasan Piker is living in fantasy world," he said. "He did not elect Talarico in the primary. Progressives were split, with many going for Jasmine Crockett.
"If Talarico wins the general, it will be because he appealed to a significant number of R’s in a state Trump won by 14% in ’24," Turrentine continued. "If Talarico wins, it will be in spite of Piker, not because of him.
"Same, if they win, for Roy Cooper in North Carolina, Josh Turek in Iowa, Mary Peltola in Arkansas, and Sherrod Brown in Ohio," he added. "The Senate majority runs through the middle of the electorate, not Twitch."
College professor accused of sending explicit Snapchat messages in child solicitation case: sheriff's office
Texas officials last week arrested a Dallas-area community college professor accused of sending sexually explicit photos and messages online to an individual he believed was a 14-year-old boy.
Aaron Wood, 34, who taught drama for two years at North Central Texas College (NCTC), allegedly sent the messages on Snapchat to an undercover agent in Florida May 22.
The Denton County Sheriff’s Office arrested Wood Friday and charged him with solicitation of a minor via computer, according to county records.
The school confirmed his arrest in a statement, saying he was no longer employed as of Monday.
FORMER TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER ARRESTED AFTER PROBE INTO INAPPROPRIATE STUDENT RELATIONSHIP
NCTC added the alleged offense did not involve any school staff or students.
"To our knowledge, the alleged offense does not involve NCTC, its students or staff," the college said. "We can verify that he has had no contact with NCTC students, faculty or staff since his arrest on September 25, 2026."
According to an arrest affidavit, Wood allegedly engaged in an online conversation on Snapchat with an undercover officer from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, FOX 4 Dallas reported.
During their interaction, Wood reportedly told the undercover officer he teaches students around the same age as the person he believed he was speaking with.
When asked about his students, Wood allegedly told the officer he had "been into a few over the years" and that he was nervous but still interested in chatting with the undercover officer.
The affidavit says Wood sent a picture of male genitals, along with other sexually explicit messages, to the officer and asked to see theirs, FOX 4 reported.
Authorities tracked Wood through the IP address used during the interaction, which led them to an apartment in Denton.
The affidavit noted that the Orange County Sheriff’s Office had probable cause to charge Wood with transmission of harmful material to minors and unlawful use of a two-way communication device, FOX 4 reported.
While the allegations reportedly did not involve any NCTC students, the school emphasized that "the safety of our students and staff are of the utmost importance and concern."
Fox News Digital reached out to NCTC for additional information.
GREGG JARRETT: My mother’s advice led me to the career of a lifetime
Decades ago, when I was agonizing over the decision to forsake my profession as a trial lawyer to pursue a far riskier and more uncertain career in television news, my mother offered sage advice. "The worst thing you can do is choose the easy course and be haunted by regret over what might have been."
I embraced her counsel, realizing that the only thing scarier than change is the absence of imagination. I quit my secure and lucrative job as an attorney in San Francisco and moved forward into the unknown. Fortunately, I was too naive to understand that the chances of success were remote.
I discovered that change hurts. It can be difficult and discouraging. But the fear of failure forced me to persevere. My early ventures up the ladder from local news channels to larger network operations felt like Churchill’s "wilderness years." It was a long slog in search of advancement and fulfillment. Self-doubt was always hovering nearby.
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But all of that vanished when I landed at Fox News nearly a quarter of a century ago. I have been grateful ever since to have played a small role in a network that has changed the face of television news for the better.
I could tell at the outset that the people at Fox were different. They were dedicated and passionate. The common denominator was an unwavering commitment to excellence. We supported one another.
But the heart and soul of our network are the viewers themselves. They watch with consistency because they trust what they see and hear. They feel engaged. In turn, those of us on air and the many people behind the scenes do our level best to maintain that trust by providing the highest-quality news and information available.
As a 24-hour news operation, that level of devotion and diligence is not easy to sustain. Yet I am consistently impressed by the energy, creativity, and intelligence that my colleagues bring to the on-air product every hour of every day. They are tireless and enthusiastic even when they have every right not to be. Those are rare qualities.
MARTHA MACCALLUM: AFTER 22 YEARS, HERE'S WHY I'M GRATEFUL TO CALL FOX HOME
During my many years at Fox, I have covered a multitude of stories—the War on Terror, hurricanes, disasters, presidential elections, the dot-com crash, financial calamities, social upheavals, cultural controversies, criminal trials, Supreme Court decisions, and the COVID-19 pandemic, to name a few.
Fox never said "no" when I wanted to venture beyond the newsroom. They encouraged it.
Having previously reported from conflict zones in the Middle East, I volunteered in 2003 as a correspondent during the Iraq War. For a time, I was embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division. These were courageous young soldiers who took good care of me. The experience gave me a renewed respect and admiration for our nation’s military. There are none better anywhere.
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The world has changed dramatically since I first stepped into the Fox studios back in 2002. America has become more digital, diverse, and technologically advanced. Smartphones, e-commerce, social media, cloud computing, and now AI have transformed our lives. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered around 10,000 back then. It now exceeds 50,000.
In my time at Fox News, I have served as an anchor, reporter, documentary host, opinion columnist, and, most recently, legal analyst for the network. I penned four books along the way. I have grown and evolved in ways that I never imagined. Fox made that possible. And I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.
It has certainly been a different life than what I envisioned as a young man exiting law school so long ago. Far more rewarding. During the journey, I learned some valuable lessons. Sometimes it pays to take a chance. And to listen to your mother.
So, may I offer my sincere thanks to Fox News and a hearty congratulations on its 30th anniversary!
DOE employee charged with trying to aid Iran-backed Houthis, feds say
A U.S. Department of Energy worker from Richland, Washington, was arrested Thursday and charged with attempting to provide "material support" to the Iran-backed Houthis, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Ashton Hamed Ellaboudy, 51, is accused of attempting to use his electrical engineering knowledge and background to support the terrorist group in improving its mobile communications infrastructure, secure components for drones as well as chemicals for homemade explosives.
"As alleged, a U.S. government employee traveled overseas and used his specialized expertise in an attempt to aid the Houthis, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization backed by Iran," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in a statement.
"Additionally, Ellaboudy acquired materials for the construction of explosive material and drones capable of delivering these explosives. These allegations are so deeply disturbing that they almost defy imagination."
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Federal authorities took Ellaboudy into custody after an investigation by the FBI’s Inland Northwest Joint Terrorism Task Force.
According to court records, Ellaboudy first attracted the FBI’s attention after he allegedly bought precursor chemicals, or starting ingredients, and components often used in homemade explosives, as well as parts to make drones.
The DOJ said that, in 2024, Ellaboudy took sick leave from his Department of Energy job and said he had been exposed to highly concentrated nitric acid, a key chemical compound used in explosive manufacturing.
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In 2025, prosecutors allege, Ellaboudy used an official passport from his previous role with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to travel from Washington state to Oman.
He then crossed into Yemen. After returning to the U.S., Ellaboudy allegedly told border officers his trip was authorized government business.
Investigators also said Ellaboudy advised an undercover FBI confidential human source posing as a representative of a Houthi colonel.
For the Houthis, Ellaboudy allegedly tested solar generators, modified power systems, created circuit schematics and provided support to the group’s communications, the statement said.
"This individual allegedly betrayed the U.S. and attempted to aid the Houthis, a designated foreign terrorist organization, but thanks to the work of the men and women of the FBI, his actions were detected, and he is now in custody," Assistant Director Jarod Brown of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division said.
Officials also confirmed Ellaboudy's alleged activities did not target local nuclear sites.
"This matter did not involve an attempt to harm the Hanford Site or its workforce, and at no time was there a threat to the safety or security of the site," said Ray Geimer, office manager of the Department of Energy Hanford Field Office.
Ellaboudy faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted.
He is scheduled to make his initial court appearance before a federal magistrate judge at 11 a.m. Oct. 2 in Richland, according to the Justice Department.
Major airport suffers fourth near miss in recent months as jet is forced to brake hard
A major international airport is facing mounting scrutiny after investigators released preliminary findings into a series of runway incidents and near collisions.
The incidents, which involved passenger aircraft, all occurred at Sydney Airport during the past three months.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) released preliminary reports Sept. 30.
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The incidents began July 27, when a Qantas Boeing 737 was cleared to cross a runway in front of a QantasLink Dash 8 that was landing, according to the ATSB.
On Aug. 9, a Jetstar Airbus A320 was forced to brake abruptly to avoid a Qatar Airways Boeing 777 being towed across its path. A flight attendant aboard the Jetstar aircraft fell during that sudden braking and fractured her wrist.
The same day, a Qantas Boeing 737 was cleared to cross a runway in front of a Virgin Australia 737 that had just been cleared for takeoff, the report said.Â
Nine days later, a Qantas Airbus A321 had to brake while taxiing to allow another Qantas 737 to pass in front of it.
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In a statement to Fox News Digital Thursday, Sydney Airport said safety was its "highest priority."
"We will continue to support the Minister and Airservices as they work through the preliminary findings and the appropriate actions," a spokesperson said. "We await the final reports and any recommendations arising from the ATSB’s investigations."
Staffing levels at Sydney Airport's control tower had emerged as a recurring area of inquiry, investigators said, although they have not determined whether staffing factors directly contributed to any of the recent incidents.
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"These investigations will look to understand the significance of staff resourcing pressures within the tower, specifically, the practice of combining operational roles, the routine reliance on overtime to fill shifts and training or supervision activities being conducted alongside operational duties," Angus Mitchell, ATSB chief commissioner, said in a press release.
Investigators also raised concerns about fatigue, though they cautioned that a heightened risk of fatigue does not necessarily mean controllers were tired at the time of the incidents.
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"We are examining the effectiveness of the measures in place to manage this identified risk," Mitchell added.
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The incidents came as Sydney Airport recorded the highest rate of ground conflicts per aircraft movement among Australia's major airports in the post-COVID period, about 20% above the national average, according to a separate ATSB analysis.
Mitchell cautioned that the findings should "be viewed in the context of Sydney Airport being the most complex in the country."
Fox News Digital reached out to the ATSB for further comment and insight.
EXCLUSIVE: Supreme Court prayer grotto case could impact 'every single zoning law' in America, attorney says
FIRST ON FOX — The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear a Kentucky church’s fight to build a prayer grotto on its property, taking up a dispute over what constitutes a "substantial burden" on religious exercise under federal land-use law.
Ryan Gardner, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, which represents the Missionaries of St. John the Baptist, told Fox News Digital the implications stretch far beyond the proposed Catholic shrine in Park Hills, Kentucky.
"This is a massive case for religious liberty because it has the potential to impact every single zoning law in this country," Gardner told Fox News Digital.
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At the center of the case is a proposed 16-by-39-foot grotto that court records say would include a shrine to the Virgin Mary, a plaza, walking path and retaining wall. Gardner compared its roughly 600-square-foot footprint to the size of a swimming pool.
The church applied in March 2021 for a conditional-use permit and variance to build the grotto behind its building in honor of the Virgin Mary’s apparition to Saint Bernadette in Lourdes, France. The church building itself has stood on the property for nearly a century, predating Park Hills’ zoning ordinance adopted in 1974.
The property history is a bit more complicated than the case’s shorthand description may suggest. The proposed grotto involved an adjacent parcel that was initially subject to a perpetual lease that would be transferred to the religious organization as a condition of the project’s approval. But unlike many religious land-use disputes, Gardner said, the church’s initial fight in this case was not with the local government.
The Park Hills Board of Adjustment approved the church’s permit in April 2021. Two neighboring property owners, however, Joel and Elizabeth Frederic, objected and challenged the board’s decision in Kentucky state court.
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A trial court ruled in the church’s favor, but the Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed, concluding the board exceeded its authority in approving the project and finding no violation of federal religious land-use law. The Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed the RLUIPA ruling in December 2025, prompting the church to seek Supreme Court review.
The case centers on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, known as RLUIPA, a federal law enacted to protect religious institutions from certain burdens on the use of their property.
"RLUIPA is at the intersection of two very critical rights in this country: the rights of religious liberty and property rights," Gardner told Fox News Digital.
The church asked the justices to review two questions under RLUIPA, but the Supreme Court agreed to hear only one about whether prohibiting a religious institution from building a religious structure on its own property constitutes a "substantial burden" on religious exercise under the law.
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Gardner said lower courts have developed different approaches to the law since Congress enacted it in 2000, leaving religious organizations with different levels of protection depending on where a dispute arises. He argues the Supreme Court now has an opportunity to establish a clearer standard nationwide.
The missionaries similarly argued in their Supreme Court petition that federal and state courts are divided over how to determine whether a land-use restriction creates a "substantial burden" under RLUIPA. The Frederics disputed that characterization in their opposition brief, arguing appellate courts generally consider similar factors and that differing outcomes can reflect differing facts. The Frederics also argued that the Missionaries failed to show that alternative locations for the grotto were unavailable.
An attorney for the Frederics did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
The case also puts two constitutionally significant areas of law alongside one another — religious exercise and the authority of local governments to regulate property use.
While Gardner acknowledged that zoning serves a legitimate role in how local governments organize, he argued those same regulations remain subject to federal-level protections for religious exercise. That question, he said, reaches well beyond one prayer grotto in Kentucky.
The SCOTUS ruling could affect disputes involving churches, synagogues, ministries and other religious organizations seeking to use their properties for worship or religious activities, according to Gardner. He warned that an overly narrow interpretation of the federal law could have "dire consequences" for religious land use around the country.
For the Missionaries of St. John the Baptist, however, the case that could shape religious land-use law across the country began with something much smaller, a roughly 600-square-foot place of prayer.
Gavin Newsom signs Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha into law as new California state holidays
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that formally recognizes two Muslim holidays as state holidays on Sunday, making it the second state to formally recognize both holidays statewide.
California Assembly Bill 2017 officially added Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha to the list of state holidays, which would permit public schools and colleges to close and allow state employees to be eligible to observe the holidays.Â
However, schools and businesses will not be required to close on these days, and courts will be required to stay open.
This makes California the second state in the country, after Washington state, to pass statewide legislation recognizing the Muslim holidays.
Before signing AB 2017, Newsom had multiple bills on his desk that provided protections and exceptions for other religious observances, including Jewish holidays such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.Â
For example, AB 395, which reached the governor days before AB 2017, would codify these Jewish holidays, among others, into state law and require state agencies and facilities like schools to "make every reasonable effort" to avoid scheduling significant functions for those days.
Another bill, AB 1763, would also guarantee students in K-12 be allowed excused absences for religious holidays.
Though these bills were introduced and presented to the governor before AB 2017, Newsom did not sign the additional bills into law until Wednesday, prior to the midnight deadline.
Republican opponents criticized Newsom for appearing to prioritize bills recognizing Muslim holidays over bills allowing for equal treatment for Jewish holidays.
SWING STATE MAYOR SUED AS CITY’S MUSLIM HOLIDAY DISPLAYS IGNITE RELIGIOUS-FAVORITISM FIGHT
"The fact that Newsom chose to sign the Eid law before the law that protected other religious observance speaks volumes about the direction he is moving as he eyes a 2028 run for the presidency," Elizabeth Barcohana, chair of Jewish engagement for the California Republican Party, told Cleveland Jewish News (JNS) Thursday.
She also warned that these laws would give Muslim holidays additional privileges not afforded to other religions, which could include closing schools.
"People may think this is alarmist, but this is an example of American laws adopting a Sharia law framework," Barcohana told JNS. "Special protections no other religious observance receives, the option to shut down public institutions to observe the holiday that, until now, only Christian holidays received and curriculum in public schools that is religious in nature notably about a religion that emphasizes conversion."
However, David Bocarsly, CEO of Jewish California, supported Newsom's actions, saying he was not concerned about the order in which the bills were signed because all three became law.
"With more than 1,000 bills in front of him this past month, we aren't concerned with the sequencing of Assembly Bill 395 and Assembly Bill 1763, as long as they got signed, and they did. We're thrilled to see these two critical religious freedom protections become law and to recognize three Jewish holidays in California statute for the first time," Bocarsly told Fox News Digital.
His organization also celebrated Newsom signing into law SB 1387, which recognizes Jewish identity as an ethnicity.
Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom's office for comment but did not immediately receive a response.Â
A spokesperson for Newsom's office told Fox News Digital, "This is not about manufacturing a scorecard among faiths. The Governor signs bills based on the substance of the legislation and the constitutional process governing when he receives and acts on bills. California is proud to continue strengthening its religious freedom – something our nation’s founders strongly believed in, too."
Michigan decision forces removal of disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar from sex offender registry
Larry Nassar, the disgraced former sports physician convicted of sexually abusing hundreds of young female athletes, has been removed from the Michigan Sex Offender Registry.
The development, confirmed by the Eaton County Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday, is the result of a recent Michigan Supreme Court decision regarding the state's registry laws. Nassar is one of more than 20,000 individuals whose names were recently purged from the Michigan State Police database.
On September 9, the state Supreme Court ruled that 2021 amendments to Michigan's Sex Offender Registration Act cannot be applied retroactively to older crimes.
As a direct result of this ruling, state police were forced to remove individuals whose criminal conduct took place prior to July 1, 2011.
While Nassar was not publicly exposed, arrested or convicted until years later, his crimes technically occurred before the 2011 cutoff date. Therefore, he is no longer legally required to be listed on the public registry.
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The Eaton County Prosecutor’s Office strongly criticized the removal. Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd pointed out that while Nassar’s convictions came after the deadline, the conduct itself allowed for the loophole.
The prosecutor’s office stated that the Supreme Court could have applied a different interpretation of the law to ensure certain offenders remained on the public list. The office added that debates over the effectiveness of the registry should be left to lawmakers in the legislature, rather than decided by the judicial branch.
Nassar served as a team physician for USA Gymnastics until 2014 and Michigan State University until 2016. The investigation into his actions became a national scandal, unraveling after Rachael Denhollander publicly accused him in September 2016.
JERRY SANDUSKY GRANTED NEW EVIDENTIARY HEARING AFTER ACCUSER RECANTS TESTIMONY
Dozens of victims testified during his January 2018 court sentencing, including Olympic champions Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber, while stars like Simone Biles and McKayla Maroney later testified before Congress in September 2021.
During his sentencing, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina described Nassar as "possibly the most prolific serial child sex abuser in history."
Despite his removal from the registry, there is no threat to the public. The former physician is currently serving multiple lengthy prison sentences for his convictions on state sexual assault charges and federal child pornography charges.
Given the decades he was sentenced to serve, authorities note it is highly unlikely he will ever be released from prison before his death.
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Angel Reese's Defensive Player of the Year win looks like WNBA media rewarding its own hype
Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese deserved consideration for the WNBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award. Her rebounding, effort and ability to force turnovers gave voters plenty of reasons to put her in the conversation.
Apparently, putting her in the conversation wasn’t enough.
Reese received 46 of the 74 votes for the award announced Thursday. Golden State Valkyries forward Gabby Williams finished second with 20. Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson, the best defender in the WNBA as far as I’m concerned, received four.
Four.
Reese received more than 11 times as many votes as Wilson and more than twice as many as Williams.
The result fits a suspicion I’ve had about Reese’s coverage for a long time: too many members of the media want her to be an elite player so badly that they oversell what she actually does.
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An award decided by sportswriters and broadcasters gives them something convenient to point to when anyone questions that assessment.
"Of course she’s elite. Look at the award we gave her."
The Dream finished 30-14 this season. They ranked third in defensive rating, allowing 103.5 points per 100 possessions.
A very good season. But how much better did Atlanta get after adding Reese this past offseason?
Last year, the Dream finished... 30-14. The exact same record as this season.
Surely the team's defense improved by adding the Defensive Player of the Year, right? Well, not exactly.
The Dream ranked second in defensive rating, allowing 98.9 points per 100 possessions in 2025. Atlanta already had one of the league’s best defenses before Reese arrived, and the team was actually a little worse defensively this year.
That doesn’t mean Reese made Atlanta worse. Rosters change, opponents change and comparing defensive ratings across seasons requires accounting for many variables. But anyone selling her arrival as a dramatic transformation has to explain why the Dream finished with the same number of wins and a slightly worse defensive rating.
Reese helped Atlanta allow a league-low 9.5 second-chance points per game, she averaged an impressive 1.8 steals and she led the league in defensive win shares.
But she also joined a 30-win team that already played elite defense.
Wilson gives a defense options that Reese doesn’t provide at the same level. She can protect the basket, switch onto a guard and defend a possession that takes her well away from the paint.
Against Indiana in August, Wilson guarded Caitlin Clark with the game on the line in overtime and forced the turnover that set up Chelsea Gray’s winning 3-pointer. Aces coach Becky Hammon said after the game: "I’ll take that matchup … any day."
I don't think the Atlanta Dream want Reese trying to defend Clark on the perimeter with the game on the line. In fact, if that matchup happened, it would mean some very poor coaching and execution from the Dream.
Reese’s activity around the basket is valuable, but Wilson’s ability to handle that assignment is a major reason she's the league's best defender.
Wilson led the league in blocks for the fifth consecutive season, averaging 1.9 blocks per game, while Reese averaged just 0.7. Wilson actually averaged more defensive rebounds per game (7.5) than Reese (7.3), while adding 1.4 steals per game.
ANGEL REESE’S LATEST WNBA CONTROVERSY SHOWS HOW VICTIMHOOD BECAME CENTRAL TO HER BRAND
The defensive rebounding comparison tends to get lost amid the celebration of Reese’s rebounding records. Of her 521 rebounds this season, 206 came on offense. Those are valuable possessions to create, but they aren’t defensive stops and shouldn't factor into a Defensive Player of the Year conversation. And, of course, there are the "mebounds" Reese gets when she misses a layup and rebounds her own shot.
Wilson has advanced statistics supporting her case, too. CBS Sports’ Jack Maloney explained that he voted for Reese while acknowledging that Wilson led the league in defensive VPM, an advanced metric estimating a player’s impact on preventing points.
Gabby Williams had a serious argument, too. She regularly took the opponent’s toughest scoring assignment for Golden State’s top-ranked defense. The WNBA’s own awards preview cited Synergy tracking that placed her first in points allowed per possession across tracked play types.
Consider how Swish Appeal’s Edwin Garcia, an official awards voter, described Reese’s defense.
"At the rim, she was a black hole, devouring everything that even attempts to enter the paint," Garcia wrote. He also called her a "shoo-in" for the award.
A player averaging fewer than one block per game was supposedly devouring everything near the basket. Protecting the rim involves more than blocking shots, but Garcia’s description makes Reese sound like an overwhelming shot-blocking force. She wasn’t.
Garcia also leaned on Atlanta’s defensive on/off numbers, citing a 15.5-point difference with Reese off the floor. CBS Sports’ Jack Maloney used on/off figures, too, but he cited a 13-point gap in his explanation for choosing Reese. Atlanta’s own award announcement said 7.9.
That’s an awful lot of confidence in a number that changes considerably depending on where it came from and when it was pulled. And it still measures the performance of five players together, not Reese’s individual defense.
ANGEL REESE GOT A BARBIE DOLL, SIGNATURE SHOE AND WNBA THEME NIGHT, THEN PLAYED VICTIM AGAIN
Hoops Junkie’s version raises another question. Its defensive on/off comparison puts Aces guard Jackie Young at 15.1 points and A’ja Wilson at 7.0, giving Young a much larger apparent impact on the Aces’ defense.
Are we supposed to believe Young is more important to Las Vegas’ defense than Wilson? Watch the Aces play and try making that argument. Young is a good defender, but Wilson is the player protecting the basket, grabbing rebounds and handling assignments most centers couldn’t handle.
A number that puts Young so far ahead of Wilson deserves some scrutiny before it becomes the deciding argument for a defensive award.
SB Nation voter Noa Dalzell cited opponents’ worse shooting numbers with Reese on the floor and wrote: "if Angel Reese is guarding you, your team starts missing shots."
Except being on the floor and guarding the shooter are two different things. Reese gets credit in that comparison when a teammate forces a difficult shot or an opponent simply misses an open one. Translating the team’s shooting numbers into a claim about Reese personally shutting down opponents overstates what those numbers establish.
Dalzell, like Maloney, acknowledged that Wilson led the league in DVPM and noted that Reese also trailed Gabby Williams and Aliyah Boston in that metric.
Two voters openly noted an important individual defensive metric that favored Wilson but decided to push forward using team on/off figures. Unsurprisingly, they leaned more heavily on stats favoring Reese, even if those stats aren't the best barometer for defensive performance.
Reese’s on/off advantage is fair game when making her Defensive Player of the Year case. But it doesn’t explain why Wilson barely registered in the voting, or why Williams received fewer than half as many votes as Reese.
That’s been my issue with the coverage of Reese for a long time.
She’s a very good player with limitations that too many people covering her seem determined to overlook. Now, a strong defensive season has become a runaway award victory, and the same media that handed her the trophy can point to it as proof that their assessment was right. It’s a vicious little cycle of self-validation.
Reese deserved consideration. But 46 votes to Williams’ 20 and Wilson’s four looks like a media corps that was awfully eager to give itself something to celebrate.