BREAKING: LSU Star Angel Reese Declares for 2024 WNBA Draft

Reese will forgo her final season of eligibility, departs Baton Rouge as one of the best to ever do it.

Mar 3, 2024; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; LSU Lady Tigers forward Angel Reese takes a photo for / Matthew Hinton-USA TODAY Sports

LSU star Angel Reese has made her decision. The SEC Player of the Year will forgo her final season of eligibility and has declared for the 2024 WNBA Draft after an iconic run in Baton Rouge.

The 2023 National Champion has checked off all of her goals at the collegiate level and is prepared to go the professional route after four seasons in college.

The face of the NIL space, Reese will now take her status to another level with her decision. From a Reebok sneaker deal to her own Bayou Barbie clothing brand, the LSU legend has left her mark down South.

“I’ve honestly learned that regardless [of my choice] I’m going to be able to make money staying or going,” Reese said on March 21. “Understanding that my brand has been built where I know I can take it past college. Like I have a brand outside of here where the deals are going to follow me if I leave or stay. And I’ve built that relationship with a lot of these brands. And I think that’s the difference. Like my Reebok deal, and I’m sure Hailey’s Adidas deal, that’s going to go on past college. Of course we may not have the same benefits or the same training rooms, the commercial flights and stuff like that. And I think that’s the con of everything, but you have to make a sacrifice.”

Reese has announced her decision to go pro, but there is one more decision left to be made on this LSU roster. What will LSU guard Hailey Van Lith do? Another key component to the NIL space, Van Lith also has the option to return to college for another season or go pro.

“You have to kind of look at what type of player you are,” Van Lith said. “There’s some people that have to capitalize in college because they’re not a pro-type player. They’re likability is going to stay in college. And I think for me, that’s not the case. I’m a pro-type player. The deals will follow, like Angel said. The one downfall is visibility. And the amount of times we play on ESPN and ABC and all these major television channels, that becomes a lot less when you go to the WNBA where it’s at right now. You’re not going to be in the media as much, but from a brand aspect, as long as you do what you need to do and keep up that part of your life, then brands, they’re going to follow you when you go to the league.”

LSU head coach Kim Mulkey left the decision up to the two of them. The ball is in their court and Reese has now made the decision she believes will benefit her in the long run.

“I don’t know if i’ll have a conversation with them,” Mulkey said last month. “Angel said when she came here she would stay two years and Hailey said she’d stay one. I’m not the type of coach to sit people down and tell them which agents to pick or talk them out of what they want to do. They know they have the COVID year to come back and they would be more than welcome, but I try to stay away from having any kind of influential conversation, particularly with Hailey and Angel because they made it perfectly clear when they came what they wanted to do.”

Now that her decision has been made, it's clear the impact Reese has left in Baton Rouge. A player who has taken America by storm during her two years with the program, she has asserted herself as a superstar down South who could very well have a statue in front of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center one day.

“What Angel Reese has done at LSU in two years, we really need to step back and go, ‘Wow,’” Mulkey said back in February. “She won a national championship last year, she’s a celebrity now. And then, to come back this year and get Player of the Year – she was an All-Defensive player, as well – she’s left her mark."

A legend in the Bayou State, Reese's impact will be felt in Baton Rouge for decades after propelling the Tigers to their first National Championship victory in program history. The Bayou Barbie has left her mark.