It\u2019s natural for someone whose basketball and fashion careers are both taking off. Reese is making her USA Basketball Women\u2019s National Team training camp debut this weekend \u2014 one of 10 newcomers \u2014 and is already on pace to become the best rebounder in WNBA history.<\/p>\n
But as doors open in basketball, they\u2019re opening just as quickly in fashion and business. This fall she became the first athlete to model in the Victoria\u2019s Secret Fashion Show.<\/a> She was also named to SportsPro\u2019s 2025 most marketable athletes \u2014 the fifth basketball player on the list behind Steph Curry, Caitlin Clark, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n Many celebrate her success. Others react with a familiar hostility.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I got announced for Victoria\u2019s Secret, they was mad,\u201d Reese told one podcast guest. \u201cLike, what are y\u2019all mad for?\u201d<\/p>\n Reese has an inkling, having dealt with the racist undertones of critics since taunting Caitlin Clark in the 2023 NCAA title game. Now that she\u2019s succeeding in multiple lanes, for some, her visibility as a young Black woman grows more threatening.<\/p>\n Her podcast reflects the challenge of navigating those dynamics. She hosts Black artists, athletes and public figures who\u2019ve juggled multiple pursuits and have reflected on what happens when the world tries to define you first.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes people try to box you in with whatever you were introduced as,\u201d artist Victoria Mon\u00e9t said. \u201cLike if you introduce yourself as a basketball player and they\u2019re like, \u2018No, you can\u2019t do anything else.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Mon\u00e9t, whose professional talents span singing, songwriting and dance, thinks critics are often project their insecurities about their own limits. Her advice for Reese?<\/p>\n \u201cJust do whatever makes you happy, and layer it if you want to and can handle that work ethic. I know that, looking at you, you can.\u201d<\/p>\n The advice resonated with Reese.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve gotten a knock for like: She should be just a model. She should only be a basketball player. She should stop podcasting. She should be this.\u201d<\/p>\n But Reese is holding firm. \u201cI can do anything I put my mind to.\u201d<\/p>\n Reese is unapologetic but not made of stone<\/p>\n The musician Wale told Reese he wishes he could be more like her: defiant and unbothered by criticism.<\/p>\n \u201cI was telling my man, like, \u2018Yo, I just like how she don\u2019t care,\u2019\u201d Wale, a fellow DMV native, told Reese on her podcast. \u201cI wish I could do that. I be caring, man. I be caring.\u201d<\/p>\n Reese is genuinely unapologetic, but nobody is made of stone. She\u2019s starting to show that she knows that too.<\/p>\n On her podcast, she often gives guests, usually Black female celebrities, space to talk about the impact of racist or otherwise hateful messages.<\/p>\n This past WNBA season she donated the proceeds of her \u201cMebounds\u201d merchandise \u2014 a response to online trolling of her missed layups \u2014 to victims of cyberbullying. She cited former LSU football star Kyren Lacy\u2019s death by suicide as a reminder of how serious online abuse can be.<\/p>\n \u201cWe take social media lightly,\u201d Reese told the Sun-Times back in July. <\/a>\u201cAnd people always say: Block the noise, block this, block that. But it\u2019s not that easy.\u201d<\/p>\n Reese has typically been more comfortable advocating for others rather than centering her own wounds. <\/p>\n But lately, she\u2019s sharing more glimpses of how criticism reaches her too. She opened up to sports journalist Taylor Rooks about how her experiences have affected her relationship to the media.<\/p>\n \u201cEven before the game, I\u2019m terrified of what the media is about to ask,\u201d Reese said. \u201cIt could be the nicest question, but it\u2019s gonna get flipped or put into a different light. Like, you could literally post \u2018The sky was blue\u2019 and it will say \u2014 \u2018Angel said that it\u2019s too dark.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n As a veteran in the sports media world and observer of Reese\u2019s career, Rooks replied:<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s probably been times \u2014 not to put words in your mouth \u2014 but where it sort of changed how you were viewing yourself. There\u2019s a level of trauma that comes from all of these people having things to say about you that are incorrect but that is shaping a narrative about you.\u201d<\/p>\n Rooks\u2019 advice?<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to try doubly hard to make sure you don\u2019t believe the projections that are put on you.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s one tall order for Reese. She\u2019s ascending in basketball and fashion, which means dealing with a mess of double standards, deepfakes and clickbait headlines. Podcasting appears to be a useful bridge for Reese, a place to fortify herself and find mirrors along the way.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The league has implied it\u2019s not yet big enough for the kind of revenue sharing players want. But history shows revenue sharing is a question of power, not prosperity.<\/p>\n [month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone] read<\/p>\n![\"Chicago](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/833a324\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2170x3038+0+0\/resize\/840x1176!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F3f%2F8b%2Fd75b263342c7b4c48230bea26329%2Fclark-looking-up.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"Dallas](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/cd7460d\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3303x2202+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F0a%2F30%2Fa42f3b44444b8f1ef35f32701214%2Fap25203601308939.jpg\")
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