Following the intense criticism she found herself dealing with in college, WNBA rookie Angel Reese remains under an extra bright spotlight as she begins her professional career. Unfortunately, the haters aren’t even waiting until the season starts to begin hounding Reese.
On May 6, the LSU alum attended the 2024 Met Gala, mingling with stars like Zendaya, Cardi B and Usher. The following night, the Chicago Sky had their home preseason opener against the New York Liberty. Some critics thought Reese should have skipped the red carpet and focused on the game, which Chicago won 101-53. With her usual confidence, she addressed the haters in a press conference, reminding everyone that she “slayed” the game and the gala.
“A lot of people told me I shouldn’t have went to the Met Gala, that I wasn’t going to be focused playing against the runner-ups,” she said. “And I went to the Met Gala, slayed the Met Gala in New York, came back, slayed against New York. It’s what I do.”
Look, it’s just a preseason game and everyone needs to calm down.
While it feels like confident, talented Black women have been receiving more hate than usual lately, it seems like Reese believes that her self-confidence is one of the things people love most about her. She knows who she is and isn’t afraid to speak her mind.
“I give a lot of confidence to so many different people, knowing I’m not one-dimensional,” she said. “Women don’t have to be one-dimensional. They don’t have to do one thing. I think that’s what’s growing the game. People love me off the court, too, they love me because I am who I am and I speak on things that a lot of people may be scared to speak on or stand up on.”
As far as the haters are concerned, she’s not giving them space, saying, “Even on the bad days, on the days people may hate me, I’m just going to continue to keep being me.”
If you’re ready to follow Angel Reese and the rest of this historic WNBA rookie class, the 2024 regular season kicks off Tuesday, May 14.