The NIL valuation of college basketball star Angel Reese has skyrocketed to $1.4million.
It has been an exciting time for the 21-year-old, who last month graced the cover of Sports Illustrated which marked her modelling debut. “I'm excited and blessed to be able to have these opportunities to go out and be who I am,” she told Sports Illustrated Swimsuit.
She now tops the college women's basketball name, image, and likeness rankings, with her LSU Lady Tigers teammate Flau'jae Johnson listed second. The basketball forward’s value has almost quadrupled in the last couple of months and is one of just 20 athletes to hold a seven-figure valuation.
This is in part due to Reese featuring in the LSU side that defeated Iowa in the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament, also referred to as ‘March Madness’. They claimed a comprehensive 102-85 win last. month and in the game's closing stages, Reese took the opportunity to taunt opponent Caitlin Clark by performing the John Cena 'you can't see me' gesture in her face.
This claim comes after the divisive Clark performed the same diss after her side beat Louisville in the Hawkeyes' Elite Eight. Reese also pointed to her ring finger as LSU clinched the championship and post game, she remained unfazed by he detractors.
"All year, I was critiqued for who I was,” Reese told reporters. “I don't fit the narrative. I don't fit the box that y'all want me to be in. I'm too hood. I'm too ghetto. Y'all told me that all year. When other people do it, and y'all don't say nothing... So this is for the girls that look like me. For those that want to speak up for what they believe in.
“It's unapologetically you. And that's what I [did] before tonight. It was bigger than me tonight. And Twitter is going to go into a rage every time.” Reese is very confident in her own skin, as she outlined during her Sports Illustrated cover shoot.
“I am unapologetically Angel,” she said in a video from the shoot. “I am a queen. I am confident. I am strong. I am who I am.” She added: "The biggest takeaway I want people to know is you can be girly off the court and still have swag and just be who you are.
“I mean, I embrace my body and who I am and on the court I can still ball. I am 6’3″, I work out a lot so why not show it? I got a nice little body." The editor-in-chief of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit MJ Day was full of praise for the youngster and commended her desire to grow 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,” Day said. “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."
