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Following LSU’s first NCAA Women’s National Championship, LSU star Angel Reese has seen her NIL (name, image, and likeness) valuation soar over the $1 million mark according to On3, a company that tracks high school and college athletes’ valuations.
According to On3, Reese’s NIL valuation rose to $1.3 million after the sophomore star, who averaged 23 points and 15 rebounds for the season, won her school’s first national championship.
Angel Reese in her moment
Reese sent the internet into a frenzy when she hit Iowa’s Cailtin Clark with the “you can’t see me” hand gesture at the end of the game, a move that Clark had done earlier in the tournament that was praised by many.
“I was waiting,” Reese told ESPN. “Caitlin Clark is a hell of a player for sure. But I don’t take disrespect lightly. And she disrespected Alexis and my girls — South Carolina, they still my SEC girls, too. Y’all not gonna disrespect them either…I had a moment at the end of the game. I was in my bag. I was in the moment.”
Reese was criticized by many while praised by others for the gesture, an experience she said she was used to all year.
“All year, I was critiqued for who I was. I don’t fit the narrative,” Reese said after the national championship.
“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. But when other people do it, 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 it for tonight. It was bigger than me tonight. And Twitter is going to go into a rage every time. And I’m happy. I feel like I’ve helped grow women’s basketball this year…I’m looking forward to celebrating and then next season.”