Basketball
LSU women’s basketball superstar Angel Reese declared that she will enter the WNBA draft in a fashion layout in Vogue magazine. Reese won a national championship with the Tigers in 2023, and led the team to the Elite Eight this year before losing to Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes on Monday (1 April).
In the piece, Reese said she was inspired by Serena Williams, who announced her retirement with a fashion shoot in Vogue. “I didn’t want anything to be basic,” she said in the article.
Reese is known for her style, long eyelashes, and willingness to trash-talk on the court. When she transferred to LSU, fans nicknamed her the Bayou Barbie.
The basketball star was eligible to stay in college another season because of the extra COVID year granted to athletes who played in 2020. But she said she is ready to play with the best basketball has to offer.
“I want to start at the bottom again,” she said. “I want to be a rookie again and build myself back up; I want to be knocked down and learn and grow at the next level.”
Reese on inspiring the next generation by being herself: "I'm unapologetically me"
Reese has become a star as the popularity of women’s basketball in the U.S. has exploded. Her game against Iowa had 12.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched women’s basketball game to ever air on ESPN. The fame has helped her earn sponsorship deals with a number of major brands. It’s also meant she has faced an outsized share of criticism, something she addressed on Monday after the loss.
“I don’t really get to speak out on things just because I try to ignore and I just try to stand strong. I would still sit here and say, ‘I’m unapologetically me.’ I’m going to always leave that mark and be who I am and stand on that,” she said in the postgame press conference.
“The little girls that look up to me, hopefully, I give them some type of inspiration … Keep being who you are.”
The WNBA draft will take place on Monday, April 15, in New York. The Indiana Fever have the first pick, followed by the Los Angeles Sparks and then the Chicago Sky. Training camp starts just two weeks later, on April 28.
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark is the biggest name to declare for the draft. South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso, Stanford’s Cameron Brink, and UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards have also declared.