Angel Reese raved about the positive reception she’s received from WNBA veterans after being drafted last week, pushing back at the narrative that the league ‘hates’ rookies

Angel Reese has spoken about the warm embrace she’s received from veteran players since joining the WNBA.

The LSU product led the Tigers to their first-ever national title in 2023, scooping up NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player along the way, and was selected seventh overall in last week’s WNBA Draft.

“Being at the draft last week, I got the chance to talk to Nneka (Ogwumike), Satou (Sabally), and a lot of the vets,” Reese said at a preseason event on Wednesday. “They (the veterans) were telling me they were super excited for us to come here and be in this amazing league. Being able to be embraced by vets is something that I love, and they understand and know our impact.”

A star-studded rookie class, led by Caitlin Clark, has brought unprecedented media attention to the college game and these eyeballs are drifting to the professional level, with the WNBA Draft attracting record ratings with over 2.5 million viewers. However, WNBA legend Diana Taurasi noted that the transition into the W for Clark and her fellow rookies would remain just as difficult.

“Reality is coming, there’s levels to this thing,” Taurasi said in an April SportsCenter interview. “And that’s just life, we all went through it.

‘You look superhuman playing against some 18-year-old’s but you’re going to come [play] with some grown women that have been playing professional basketball for a long time. But there is gonna be a transition period, where you’re gonna have to give yourself some grace as a rookie.”

The 41-year-old Taurasi has a reputation for targeting rookies

Taurasi also threw perceived slights at Clark on ESPN’s “Bird and Taurasi” broadcast at the Final Four, and her first meeting with Clark has been billed by the Phoenix Mercury as “The GOAT [Taurasi] vs. the Rookie.” Her antagonism towards new players is longstanding, saying in 2020 that” “Every time you played rookies, you just wanted to ——- kill them” – contributing to a belief that the WNBA’s old guard “hates” the league’s rookies.

But Reese raved about the reception she received from her older teammates and a shared goal to grow the profile of women’s basketball. She continued on Wednesday: “We’re all just trying to go in the same direction, and I think we’re going up right now. Being able to see so many things with the networks and the ticket sales and the jersey sales, I think we’re in a really great direction and having support from your vets is amazing.”

The LSU legend features alongside another phenomenal rookie in Kamilla Cardoso with the Chicago Sky and the two will take the floor for the first time together in regular-season action May 15 in a road matchup against the Dallas Wings. Cardoso and Reese remain a ways off the radar of noted rookie “killer” Taurasi, meeting for the first time when Chicago returns from the Olympic break with a home tilt against the Mercury on August 15.