Angel Reese Debuts As Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model in 2023 Issue

The 2023 national champion is featured in this year’s magazine.

LSU women’s basketball star Angel Reese will make her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut in the 2023 issue later this month.

Reese, nicknamed the Bayou Barbie, guided the Tigers to their first NCAA championship in program history on April 2 and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. The 6’3” forward captivated the nation during this year’s March Madness—further launching women’s basketball into the national sphere with her competitive spirit and talent on the court. 

“Angel Reese is a phenomenal basketball player,” SI Swimsuit editor-in-chief MJ Day says. “She’s an All- American and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. While we’re of course here to celebrate her incredible achievements and athleticism, it wouldn’t be an SI Swimsuit moment if we weren’t shining a light on Angel’s achievements off the court.

“Angel is combating the double standard in sports, especially for women. She is making a name for herself as a fierce competitor and an equally fierce advocate for growing the game of women’s basketball. Her intensity, drive and passion around being unapologetically herself and speaking up for what she believes in is helping move the needle forward for women in sports and is liberating the next generation to feel seen and heard. Our goal here is to help empower as many women as we can, and we’re beyond excited to do that alongside Angel Reese in the 2023 issue.”

Head over to SI Swimsuit to see Reese's entire gallery.

Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

Reese posed for photographer Yu Tsai in Los Angeles, trading in her purple legging for a purple two-piece. Of course, she had to throw up her famous ring celebration, one of her on-court celebrations that caused controversy during the NCAA tournament. Whether it was a teammate drawing a championship ring on her ring finger or Reese taunting Iowa’s Caitlin Clark in the final moments of the title game, the 21-year-old has stood her ground against critics.

“Caitlin and I are cool,” Reese says. “It’s just being able to force people to accept that women can talk trash. The women’s side gets penalized for it, or we’re considered as not being ladylike and that we’re not playing by the rules. We work just as hard as the men. Women can be who we are. Women can be competitive.”

It’s that competitive spirit that landed her at LSU for the 2022–23 season, leaving Maryland after two seasons to join a burgeoning team built by Louisiana native Kim Mulkey. The Tigers’ 102–85 title win was just the sweetener for a season filled with accomplishments for Reese: A first-team All-America selection, breaking the NCAA record for double-doubles in a season (34) and being a driving force in bringing in 9.9 million viewers for the most-watched women’s championship game in history.

Reese’s popularity has exploded, leading to name, image and likeness deals that put her reported valuation at $1.3 million and her social media count at more than 4 million followers across TikTok, Instagram and Twitter.

Reese has one more year before she can enter the WNBA draft, hoping to be a top pick in 2024. Until then, she’ll look to be crowned one more time as the Tigers hope to become back-to-back champions—a true possibility with the recent transfers of former Louisville star Hailey Van Lith and former DePaul standout Aneesah Morrow.

“Having so many people come back to me and say, ‘You guys have changed the game. You guys have been a part of history,’ I embraced that,” Reese says. “Just being able to be a part of this has just been amazing for me this year, and it’s been a blessing.”