LSU Tigers’ Angel Reese has continued her streak of extraordinary achievements by becoming the 10th most marketable female athlete in the world. The 2023 NCAA Champion was selected as the tournament’s most outstanding player, which was only the beginning of her rise. Since then, Reese has gone strength-to-strength, earning a range of endorsements and NIL deals, which have made her effectively a household name.
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This includes the recent deal that she signed with Reebok, in turn becoming Shaquille O’Neal’s first signing since he became President of basketball operations for the company. Reese’s marketability underwent a 124% increase in the days after she was named as the most outstanding player of the Final Four.
This manifested a rise in earnings to $876,000 from $391,000, according to Forbes. Having already signed 17 NIL deals by this time, Reese was said to be in fifth place as far as women’s college sports were concerned, initially. In comparison, max contracts for players in the WNBA end up netting slightly over $200,000 per season.
Her constant rise in value means that she is now rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest female athletes in the world. According to Boardroom, Angel Reese currently ranks 10th in the list of most marketable female athletes in the world for 2023. Her high-profile competitors include the likes of Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, and Simon Biles, bona fide global superstars who have been at the top for years already.
She is currently trailing behind tennis star Naomi Osaka, who is 6th on the list. While Reese has not even made it to the WNBA yet, she is already being compared to some of the biggest names in women’s sports. The comparison with Naomi Osaka in particular is going to delight the player.
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While most of the other players on the list are American, Osaka is a 4-time Grand Slam champion and the first Asian player to ever be ranked number 1 in the world. Reese, therefore, is already in some illustrious company.
Shaquille O’Neal believes Angel Reese is the greatest athlete to come out of LSU
Shaquille O’Neal has been one of the biggest supporters of Angel Reese ever since she broke through the college circuit. That is partly due to the fact that they both played for LSU, although Reese’s incredible talent is the bigger reason.
As a matter of fact, Shaq has already called Reese the best athlete to ever come out of LSU, a comment that she initially claimed represented extra pressure. Regardless, while she has proven her talent on the court already, Reese has also had a great time off of it.
She has tooled her fame to sign NIL deals with a range of major companies, and trails behind only 4 college sports players when it comes to overall NIL deals, according to Sports Casting. These include the likes of Rayquan Smith (66 deals), Ky’Wuan Dukes(29 deals), Lauren Burke (22 deals), and Jon Seaton (18 deals). Hence, she has already at the top when it comes to college sports, regardless of gender.
