Angel Reese is heading into her senior year at LSU, but the basketball star is already setting her sights on the WNBA.
In a new cover with Harper’s Bazaar, the 21-year-old basketball phenom opened up about her aspiration to become both a WNBA player and model after graduating from LSU. “A lot of people don’t see women’s basketball players being able to do both,” Reese said.
But she hopes the WNBA can grow to accommodate the new class of rookies, like her and Iowa star Caitlin Clark, who Reese and the Tigers defeated to win the program’s first NCAA women’s basketball national championship in April.
“I hope there will be more teams so that everyone has an opportunity, because there are so many great players and they currently only have 144 (squad spots) in the league. I want the WNBA to grow,” Reese said. “So I hope that as me and Caitlin Clark and all these other players leave, there will be opportunities for others to join a team.”
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Reese joins a list of stars calling on WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert to add expansion franchises as the talent pool and popularity of women’s basketball continues to grow. There are 12 WNBA teams and only 144 spots available each season, leaving many rookies fighting for a spot on a team after being drafted.
One of the players who got the short end of the stick was former LSU star Alexis Morris, who won a national championship alongside Reese in April. She was drafted by the Connecticut Sun with the 22nd overall pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft, but was waived by the team during training camp a month later.
Morris then took to social media and called on franchises to “cut veterans” in order to free up limited spots for rookies. “Vets have learned when to cut down the net and pass the torch, bro,” Morris said in a since-deleted tweet. She later apologized and said she should have instead directed her frustration at WNBA executives, who have the potential to add more teams to the league.
The Atlanta Dream, added in 2008, was the WNBA’s last expansion team.
However, before Reese reaches the WNBA, the 6’3 star said she has one more thing to do in college.
“I want to win another national championship,” Reese said. “That’s my favorite thing (about) college, coming out of being a national champion and getting a degree.”
She’ll have help with that. Hailey Van Lith, Louisville’s star guard announced in April that she was transferring to LSU for her senior year. Aneesah Morrow, DePaul sophomore forward also joins the reigning champions.
