Angel Reese Taking Her Drama And Considerable Game To The WNBA

BATON ROUGE - LSU just lost a lot of glamorous drama, not to mention gobs of points and rebounds.

Angel Reese, the LSU women's basketball team's mega superstar on and off the court the last two years, announced Wednesday that she is leaving school a year early to enter the WNBA Draft, which will be on April 15 in Brooklyn. She has been projected as high as the sixth pick of the first round and as low as 11th. The deadline to declare for the draft is today.

Reese, the queen bee of LSU and probably women's basketball overall until a year ago at this time when Iowa's Caitlin Clark took over, led LSU to its first national championship in basketball last season with a victory over Iowa and Clark. She led the nation in double-double games last year with 34 and was second in rebounding with 15.4 a game.

In the off-season she posed for pictures in Sports Illustrated and became one of the highest grossing Name, Image & Likeness athletes in the country via various endorsements at $1.8 million. She also took what she called a "mental health timeout" early in the 2023-24 season as she was suspended for four games.

LSU star Angel Reese was emotional after her team's loss to Iowa on Monday night. (Getty Images)

Reese is a fourth-year senior who played her first two seasons at Maryland. She would have an extra, fifth season next year because of the COVID waiver from 2020-21. But she announced her decision against a third season at LSU two days after the Tigers fell to Iowa, 94-87, in an NCAA Regional title game Monday in Albany, New York.

Reese played heroically in defeat and despite aggravating an ankle injury in the second quarter. She scored 17 points with a game-high 20 rebounds, four assists, three blocked shots and two assists before fouling out late in the game. She finished the season No. 2 in the nation in rebounds with 13.4 a game and in double-double games with 27.

READ: Was Kim Mulkey Outcoached?

And the way Angel Reese publicized her decision Wednesday was all Angel Reese. She broke the news through Vogue Magazine. 

Only Angel.

"I want to start at the bottom again," Reese told Vogue. "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."

READ: Angel Reese Final Dramatic Performance At LSU

Reese's last game included much drama as she said in the postgame press conference that she was "sexualized" and received death threats.

Her coach Kim Mulkey, though, barely discussed Reese's comments when asked about them after the game.

"I'm going to assume they're talking about social media attacks," Mulkey said. "And I don't see all that. I don't do social media."

 Mulkey will miss Reese's tremendous talents as a player, but she may not miss all the drama.