{"id":553045,"date":"2026-03-29T21:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T21:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/553045\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T21:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T21:40:13","slug":"flaujae-johnson-explains-why-she-chose-lsu-return-instead-of-wnba-while-pursuing-rap-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/553045\/","title":{"rendered":"Flau’jae Johnson explains why she chose LSU return instead of WNBA while pursuing rap career"},"content":{"rendered":"

LSU star Flau’jae Johnson cited loyalty when asked about returning to school this season while spurning the WNBA as the Tigers pursue yet another NCAA title win\"Flau'jae<\/p>\n

Flau’jae Johnson is having a strong start to March MAndess(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

LSU senior Flau’jae Johnson is one of the best upperclassmen in the nation and has her school in contention to win another national championship.<\/p>\n

Johnson<\/a> likely could have jumped to the WNBA \u2014 she likely would have been a first-round pick \u2014 after last year, a season where she earned her first All-America nod. Instead, she decided to stay in Baton Rouge for another season to pursue a second March Madness title (the Tigers won in 2023)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last fall, ESPN asked<\/a> Johnson why it was important for her to stay for another campaign. The LSU<\/a> star cited her loyalty to the program and unfinished business after losing in the Elite Eight last season.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: LSU women\u2019s updated March Madness odds suggest daunting path ahead for Kim Mulkey<\/a>READ MORE: Dawn Staley can only laugh after reality check from South Carolina star over NIL comment<\/a><\/p>\n

“I didn\u2019t want to go out on a loss if I didn\u2019t have to,” Johnson said. “I feel like I have more to prove. Why not go out as a champion? I feel like I owe it to LSU, I owe it to Baton Rouge. I\u2019m loyal to the soil.”<\/p>\n

LSU has lost in each of the last two Elite Eights, losing to UCLA in 2025 and a Caitlin Clark-led Iowa in 2024 (when Hailey van Lith struggled on defense all night). Unfortunately for Johnson, LSU’s journey ended in the Sweet 16 this time around with a last-second defeat to Duke.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Flau'jae<\/p>\n

Flau’jae Johnson shared an emotional moment with coach Kim Mulkey her last LSU home game last weekend(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Johnson is also still pursuing a rap career: the changes in NIL provisions for college athletes have allowed the LSU star to sign for Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s agency.<\/p>\n

Despite balancing a basketball career and an upstart clothing line, Johnson has garnered over 250,000 subscribers on YouTube. Her top song, ‘Came. Out a Beast’ with Lil Wayne, has over three million.<\/p>\n

\"Flau'jae<\/p>\n

Flau’jae Johnson celebrates LSU’s 2023 NCAA tourament win(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Johnson announced her return to the Tigers last April. “Yes, I\u2019m coming back to LSU,\u201d she told Front Office Sports. “This is my last year. I definitely want to win, but it’s also like I wanna make sure that I’m being developed to be the player that I want to be in the WNBA … I want to be as prepared as possible.”<\/p>\n

In 2024, she hinted that the WNBA’s changing CBA also may be keeping her in college longer. “You go to college, and you\u2019re treated like a pro,” Johnson told USA Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: March Madness stars in tears after shocking elimination ends their careers<\/a>READ MORE: Viral Florida reporter who left player dumbstruck now heartbroken by March Madness<\/a><\/p>\n

“Then, you go to the pros, and you\u2019re treated not like a professional. In that way, I say the league can be better … I think just the conditions for the players \u2015 living arrangements, travel arrangements \u2015 that\u2019s very important to the athlete.”<\/p>\n

Johnson averaged 14.3 points on 46.7% shooting this year to go along with 4.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists, earning her second-straight Third-team All-American nod.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LSU star Flau’jae Johnson cited loyalty when asked about returning to school this season while spurning the WNBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[4044,15112,245893,398,99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-553045","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-college-basketball","9":"tag-flaujae-johnson","10":"tag-lsu-tigers-basketball","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}