Angel Reese, who was left off the U.S. roster for the Paris Olympics, is still not looking forward to going to Los Angeles in 2028.
The WNBA rookie congratulated the gold medal-winning women’s basketball team after taking home its eighth consecutive Olympic victory on Saturday.
“Let’s just congratulate these women and let them enjoy this moment,” X wrote in a post on Sunday.
“Leave me out of this until my time comes,” she added, along with an angel emoji.
Reese wrote the post in response to an ESPN article theorizing about which players would likely make the Olympic roster four years from now.
WNBA rookie Angel Reese isn’t looking forward to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics just yet
“Let’s just congratulate these women and let them enjoy this moment,” X wrote on Sunday.
The article read, in part, “Yes, I’m still digesting the U.S. women’s 67-66 win over France. But who will be wearing a Team USA jersey at the 2028 Olympics? Caitlin Clark? Angel Reese? Paige Bueckers? JuJu Watkins?”
This came just hours after Team USA’s thrilling 67-66 victory over the Olympic hosts, with a roster that notably did not include Reese or her rookie opponent, superstar Caitlin Clark.
The pair, who are putting in very impressive performances less than 30 games into their careers, are being credited with giving the WNBA a major boost in 2024.
The league has seen an unprecedented surge in viewership, along with a massive increase in merchandise sales and game attendance.
Fanatics, the league’s official retailer, has seen a 500% increase in business during the first half of the season compared to the first half of 2023.
United States maintains dominance over Olympic basketball after women’s team wins
No team has ever won eight consecutive Olympic events, marking a historic milestone for the women’s team.
However, the rise in popularity is paying off in more ways than one, as the league… signing a new media rights package worth about $2.2 billion over 11 years last month, Athletic reported.
That’s a net profit of about $200 million annually, roughly four times the WNBA’s current media deals with Disney, Ion, CBS and Amazon, which are valued at $50 million annually.
Several WNBA records have already been broken this season alone; the league announced last month that more than 400,000 fans attended games in May, the most in 26 years.
Additionally, the league’s viewership has increased greatly since the arrival of Clark and Reese.
On ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and CBS, WNBA games are averaging 1.32 million viewers, which is nearly triple last season’s standard of 462,200 viewers.
A superstar rookie class, led by Caitlin Clark and Reese, has given the WNBA a boost in 2024
The WNBA even signed a new media rights package worth approximately $2.2 billion over 11 years.