I have my suspicions. She's not engaged or connected. There is no fire or motivation. She looks slow, lazy and uninspired and brings very little effort to the court. She has no game to speak of outside the paint and it doesn't look like she worked on it much in the offseason. So I went back to the Colorado game, watched some highlights (or lowlights). This is what I found that might explain why Mulkey might be losing patience with Reese.
8:20 - Angel watches a driving player past right by her uncontested.
8:46 - After the previous clip she scores but watch what she does when she comes back on defense. (Absolutely nothing!)
9:40 - Another driving player...no effort to play defense. No effort to stop or redirect their PG. (They show a slo-mo replay. Watch it). Reese stood there and just watch her drive and score.
10:58 - I'm no more than a pickup basketball player, but even I can see this play Colorado is running a mile away. So I'm playing the ball holder on her right hip to stop the guard that's driving. Reese was late to reposition herself and drew a PF + 1.
11:10 - Who is Coach Mulkey looking at and what is she thinking? (We might have an idea)
11:18 - Look at the look Velez gives Sherrod. Like she want's a piece of her. (We might need a little of that Bronx, NY attitude on the court)
15:12 - After Colorado steals the ball, watch Reese get back on defense. She becomes a spectator.
15:40 - NO effort to position for rebound. Walks back on defense.
17:03 - Reese no effort to assist Smith contest the shot. She's actually backing away from the driving player.
Reese sits on bench for a while
25:14 - Watch Reese's effort to stop the ball.
27:13 - Reese gets pushed around on defense.
27:22 - She never made it back on defense.
30:14 - Outnumbered and she never drops down to help. Walks and watches.
31:14 - Reese's effort says, I don't care.
After this Reese is removed from game.
I haven't gone through the other games, but my guess is that I will find similar behavior from Reese. If its NIL and publicity she values, she needs to understand that all that is directly linked to the product she puts on the court. She can't "afford" to be benched. Sit on your ass, lose that cash. If her effort continues to resemble this, then Mulkey has to figure out how to build a competitive team without Reese. I'm thinking Reese is slowly putting herself in Mulkey's dog house.