{"id":642582,"date":"2026-03-06T06:29:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T06:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/642582\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T06:29:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T06:29:16","slug":"wizards-juju-reese-younger-brother-of-angel-reese-collects-20-rebounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/642582\/","title":{"rendered":"Wizards\u2019 Juju Reese, younger brother of Angel Reese, collects 20 rebounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 When Juju Reese returned to the Washington Wizards\u2019 locker room Thursday night, he discovered more text messages on his cell phone than he had time to read through. He had interviews to give and postgame stretching to do. Delving into all the well-wishes and messages of congratulations had to wait.<\/p>\n

But even after a cursory glance at his phone, he knew one thing for certain about all those messages: \u201cIf it\u2019s 1,000 (messages),\u201d he told The Athletic, \u201c500 are from Angel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAngel\u201d is Angel Reese, his supportive older sister and the star for the WNBA\u2019s Chicago Sky and Unrivaled\u2019s Rose BC.<\/p>\n

Juju Reese proved that rebounding and tenacity run in his family. Playing in only his third NBA regular-season game, he scored 18 points and collected a whopping 20 rebounds in the Wizards\u2019 122-112 loss to the Utah Jazz.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was like a one-man gang out there rebounding,\u201d Wizards coach Brian Keefe said. \u201cHe was terrific. Credit to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reese\u2019s 20 rebounds in one game lead NBA rookies this season and are the most by a Wizards or Washington Bullets rookie since Tom Gugliotta grabbed 20 boards on Jan. 29, 1993.<\/p>\n

According to StatMuse<\/a>, Angel Reese was the youngest player in the WNBA last season to score at least 18 points and collect at least 10 rebounds in a game. Juju Reese now is the youngest player in the NBA this season to score at least 18 points and collect at least 10 rebounds in a game.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s only half the story. Juju Reese played four years at the University of Maryland, went undrafted and ultimately joined the Raptors 905, the Toronto Raptors\u2019 G League team.<\/p>\n

One week ago, Reese learned the Wizards wanted to sign him to a two-way contract. He took a plane from Atlanta, where the 905 were playing, back to Ontario to gather his belongings. He then hustled to Washington to join his new team.<\/p>\n

Reese \u2014 a 6-foot-9 power forward\/center who prefers to be called Juju instead of his given name, Julian \u2014 made his NBA debut Monday in a hard-fought Wizards loss to Houston, then played Tuesday in Orlando, with Angel in attendance. Playing in front of his sister, who was sitting in a courtside seat, was a highlight.<\/p>\n

But his performance Thursday against the Jazz arguably was just as special.<\/p>\n

How did he grab all those rebounds?<\/p>\n

\u201cJust hustle, just wanting it,\u201d he answered. \u201cI\u2019m not really the biggest guy out there. I just have heart. \u2026 I was trying to just master and do the things I\u2019m already good at.\u201d<\/p>\n

He sure did that. And he made his new teammates proud.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing thrown into the fire like he has (been) this last week, it\u2019s been great to see,\u201d Wizards point guard Trae Young said. \u201cThis being his third game and having this type of night, I know he\u2019s excited and he\u2019s happy. But his teammates are just as excited and happy for him as well. Hopefully, he has more of these nights in the future, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 When Juju Reese returned to the Washington Wizards\u2019 locker room Thursday night, he discovered more text…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3780],"tags":[7,4717,6,476,682,468,3892,683],"class_list":{"0":"post-642582","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-wizards","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-maryland-terrapins","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-toronto-raptors","12":"tag-washington","13":"tag-washington-wizards","14":"tag-washingtonwizards","15":"tag-wizards"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116180822884882923","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}