Angel Reese after a Chicago Sky game. Credit :
Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty
- Angel Reese tells PEOPLE being named the 2K26 WNBA Edition cover star is “an honor”
- Reese revisits her powerful postgame quote from LSU’s 2023 NCAA championship run and says it still means a lot to her
- Reese says the “bar has been set” for her to make the WNBA All-Star list after being selected as a rookie
“The sky’s the limit” for Angel Reese, she tells PEOPLE, as she’s named a 2K26 cover athlete.
The popular video game announced Reese, 23, as the NBA 2K26 WNBA Edition cover star on Wednesday, July 9, joining retired NBA great Carmelo Anthony and 2025 NBA champion Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as this year’s cover stars.
“I’m so blessed to be honored with these two,” the WNBA star, who found out about her selection from a text message, tells PEOPLE. “I was just super excited…just trying to be the first of many, and have many young kids and young women look up to me and know that they can do the same things I’m doing.”
Reese, a recently-announced two-time WNBA all-star, rose to fame during the 2023 NCAA tournament when she helped the LSU Tigers win the championship game against Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes.
Angel Reese attends the 2025 Met Gala. Kevin Mazur/MG25/Kevin Mazur/Getty
One of her postgame quotes from that run, telling reporters she’s leading her team and boldly facing backlash for going up against Clark’s smack talk for “the girls that look like” her, quickly went viral. Reese says that moral force still drives her. “That quote still stays with me,” she tells PEOPLE, “and I’m really proud of myself, and the little girl in me is proud, and this is just an honor to be able to be a part of this and something that’s historic.”
She now has another message for those younger dreamers: “The sky is the limit — even bigger than that as long as you trust whatever you want and never let anybody put limitations on who you can be and what you can be.”
Reese’s fans tirelessly campaigned for her well-deserved selection as All-Star reserve for the second consecutive season. “I got myself an All-Star year one, so I think the bar has been set and it’s expected now every year, so I’m really happy and pumped,” she says.
The 2K26 WNBA Edition is a GameStop exclusive available in the United States.
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Reese, coming off of breaking Lisa Leslie and A’ja Wilson’s record for three consecutive games with 15 points and 15 rebounds, joins WNBA stars like Clark, Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Kelsey Plum and Napheesa Collier on the WNBA All-Star list.
The WNBA All-Star game takes place on Saturday, July 18.
