LSU star forward Angel Reese declares for 2024 WNBA Draft
Star LSU forward Angel Reese made a massive decision about her future after the Tigers lost in the Elite Eight over the weekend, announcing on Wednesday that she declared for the 2024 WNBA Draft. Reese will likely be a Top 10 pick.
Reese announced the decision simultaneously on social media as she revealed that she would be gracing the cover of Vogue Magazine. She spoke at length with the magazine about her decision.
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“I’ve done everything I wanted to in college,” Reese said in Vogue. “I’ve won a national championship, I’ve gotten [Southeastern Conference] Player of the Year, I’ve been an All-American. My ultimate goal is to be a pro — and to be one of the greatest basketball players to play, ever. I feel like I’m ready.”
Reese shared in that story that she was inspired to announce this decision with a fashion photoshoot a la Serena Williams, who announced her retirement from professional tennis in a 2022 Vogue issue with an accompanying photoshoot.
Reese also expounded on the reality that going from the palatial facilities and seemingly endless resources for athletes at LSU to the WNBA is likely to be a slight downgrade in terms of her lifestyle — the Tigers charter flights, while WNBA teams often fly commercial, for instance — but one she looks forward to.
She said she looks forward to being on the bottom rung of the ladder with nowhere to climb but up.
“I want to start at the bottom again,” Reese 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.”
And it’s a challenge that Reese is ready to embrace.
“I’ll be working with grown women,” Reese said. “I’ll be working with women that have kids, women that have a family to feed. I’m going to have to work my butt off every single day and grind. And who wouldn’t want that? I don’t want anything in my life to be easy.”
Reese is leaving the college game with her head held high
LSU lost the Albany 2 Regional final game to Iowa by a score of 94-87. After the game, Tigers star forward Angel Reese took a moment to reflect on not only the game but also the Tigers’ wild 2023-24 season.
“Yeah, we’ve seen everything this year. We have been through so much adversity. I’m more than proud of this team. We don’t have that much depth. We have some injuries. I took some time away from the team,” said Reese.
“So many things happened this year, so many things hit us, and we never folded. Just being able to come out tonight and give our all for 40 minutes, we came up short, but we have to keep our heads high.”