Angel Reese Is Heading to the WNBA – but She Might Be Hanging Up Her Crown

Angel Reese is a star in each and every sense of the term. Even with Louisiana State’s loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Ultimate Four of March Insanity, Reese ended her collegiate occupation on a large, walking absent with a host of awards and broken documents, as nicely as an entry into the WNBA.

On April 15, Reese, more affectionately known by lovers as the “Bayou Barbie,” will be picked by one of the league’s 12 teams together with some of her previous NCAA opponents turned draftees, together with Caitlin Clark, Kamilla Cardoso, and Aliyah Edwards. PS caught up with the draft choose forward of the big evening, where by Reese opened up about her collegiate legacy, as effectively as some of the ambitions she has for the W.

A Look At Angel Reese’s Legacy

Though at LSU, the forward grew to become known for her daring gameplay on the courtroom, which often involves unapologetic trash talk, fresh lashes, and edges laid to the gods. That probable will never modify. It can be how she attained the nickname “Bayou Barbie” and it can be served as a representation that girls athletes — and much more exclusively Black ladies athletes — can be precisely who they are in the world of activity.

Reese’s notorious crown, nonetheless, could not make it to the league. You’ve very likely spotted the jeweled tiara positioned on Reese’s head during LSU’s pregame ritual. Throughout her occupation, it can be symbolized that Reese is “the queen,” LSU’s Amani Bartlett (bestower of the crown), informed the Linked Push. But it seems the athlete is approaching her next shift with a fresh new start off attitude, probably leaving the crown powering.

“I never know if we’ll see [the crown] in the WNBA,” Reese tells PS though performing a predraft change at Increasing Cane’s in Manhattan. “That was anything that I did at LSU and I want to just transform about a new site and begin a new chapter.”

That mentioned, there will usually be a figurative crown on her head — and it is a weighty one, Reese admits. The 21-yr-previous has faced relentless assaults from the general public all over her collegiate vocation, typically remaining pitted towards Caitlin Clark and villanized for the exact gameplay that is built her these types of a formidable player. “I’ve been via so substantially. I have witnessed so a lot. I have been attacked so many occasions. Death threats. I have been sexualized. I have been threatened,” Reese said in a publish-recreation interview immediately after LSU’s reduction to the Iowa Hawkeyes through the NCAA event.

What You Can Expect From Angel Reese in the WNBA

As Reese enters the WNBA, she’s hoping for a thoroughly clean slate and to aim on developing women’s sporting activities together with gamers like Clark. For context, the NCAA women’s championship last raked in 18.7 million viewers, more than any university or specialist basketball match due to the fact 2019, for each ESPN.

“It truly is nuts how the game’s going ideal now and getting capable to surpass the adult males . . . it really is enjoyable and I assume our online games are so a great deal much more attention-grabbing ideal now,” Reese claims. “So numerous people today are tuning in and seeing us and I appreciate it.”

Now, Reese is eager to see how the enthusiasm translates to the WNBA. “Remaining able to just take this to the W is wherever you want to do it at and I assume they are worthy of it, primarily the vets — they’ve performed a good task and laid the ground for us.”

Alexis Jones is the senior wellness editor at POPSUGAR. Her areas of skills contain women’s health, mental health, racial and ethnic disparities in health care, range in wellness, and continual problems. Prior to signing up for POPSUGAR, she was the senior editor at Well being magazine. Her other bylines can be observed at Women’s Wellness, Prevention, Marie Claire, and far more.