She announced her intention to ender WNBA Draft via Vogue Magazine

Angel Reese announced she is declaring for the 2024 WNBA DraftInstagram: angelreese10

Once the final buzzer sounded and Caitlin Clark picked the confetti out of her Final Four hat following LSU’s Elite Eight loss to Iowa, the clock was on for Angel Reese. Per NCAA rules, the LSU senior had 48 hours to announce if she would be declaring for the WNBA Draft or coming back to Baton Rouge for one more year. But when her decision finally came, the way she announced it confirmed that she had one foot out the door long before the season ended.

Angel Reese announced her WNBA move through Vogue

Reese’s decision to leave one year of college eligibility on the table and go pro first made waves for how she announced it. The Bayou Barbie broke the news through a Vogue Magazine cover story, making it her fifth time modeling for a magazine cover.

On her own social media platforms, the first place she publicized her move to the WNBA was on TikTok. She shared a personal narrative about her decision, along with a behind-the-scenes video of her Vogue cover shoot in the three-minute post. Her first line is where the controversy came in.

When did Angel Reese decide she was leaving LSU?

“So basically, long story short, I’m not going to post this video until after my last game at LSU,” she said in the prerecorded intro to her announcement video, “but sadly I have decided that I am not coming back to LSU next year.”

Since her announcement included a full cover shoot and lots of related content, perhaps it’s no surprise this was orchestrated before the two-day window following their last game. Her blue zip up top and hairstyle match another video she posted on TikTok on March 14th, meaning it was all produced before the start of the NCAA Tournament.

Why did Angel Reese keep her decision secret?

Previously, Reese had told reporters she would not make her decision until after the season. Her response in an interview right after the Iowa game still left the public in doubt. “I’ll make a decision when I’m ready,” she said on April 1st.

The exact reason she kept her decision confidential is unclear, and it is also unknown whether she told her teammates and coach Kim Mulkey first. Her justification may have been to avoid distracting her team during March Madness, but that wasn’t the case for other top prospects in the 2024 WNBA Draft class.

Clark announced her decision to leave Iowa back on February 29th, before her Senior Day. Stanford star and No. 2 overall prospect Cameron Brink announced her intentions on March 12, before March Madness began. South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso announced her future right before the LSU-Iowa game, with her Gamecocks on the way to the Final Four.

But for Reese, it was always going to be different. The outspoken superstar, tattooed with her tag line “Unapologetically Me,” chose to keep her future a secret and set the stage for her sensational Vogue Magazine reveal.