Michael Voepel
Role at the time: ESPN basketball journalist
Defended or excused
Response to this claim
Angel Reese deserved the 2026 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year award.
“Voepel: Angel Reese, Atlanta Dream”
Open source (opens in a new tab)Tracking WNBA MVP race, awards: Time to vote for the winnersDefensive Player of the Year panel table; Voepel row
Voepel chooses Reese in the panel. The other three analysts choose Williams, who is the panel's overall pick.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
Voepel's published selection directly endorses Reese.