Deja Kelly Vs Angel Reese: H2H comparison, NIL deals, college stats, social recognition, and more

It is almost a disservice to compare any player to Angel Reese after the year she has just had. There are very few athletes at this level who could be named in the same breath as Reese currently. Deja Kelly is perhaps one of the very few who could come close to stealing the crown from LSU and Reese this coming season.

Kelly is a North Carolina Tar Heels player who garnered a first-team All-ACC selection for the second consecutive year last season. She averaged 16.5 points, 3.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds.

Angel Reese set the NCAA record for most double-doubles (34) last season and averaged 23.0 points, 2.3 assists, and 15.4 rebounds. She was a unanimous first-team All-American selection as well as the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player.

Reese has a combined 4.2 million followers on her Instagram and TikTok channels, while Kelly has a combined following of 914,000 across all of her social media channels.

Deja Kelly versus Angel Reese NIL deals

Angel Reese was recently named On3's most impactful person in year 2 of the NIL. Her NIL valuation has grown in leaps and bounds this year, and most of that growth came after the NCAA tournament.

Her valuation grew from $371,000 before March Madness to a current high of $1.6 million, and the deals keep coming!

Just last week, Angel Reese was named as part of a group of select student-athletes handpicked by Johnson to be the face of his soft drink, ZOA.

Reese has endorsement deals with brands like PlayStation, Starry, Mielle Organics, Raising Cane's, and Caktus AI.

One of Deja Kelly's most impactful NIL deals was signed last year. She inked a deal with Dunkin (formerly Dunkin Donuts), assisted by her agent, Cecil White of Endeavour Group Holdings, a subsidiary of WME Sports.

She talked about the importance of her values aligning with her endorsement deals.

“They just really cared about helping me really build my brand like what I wanted to be,” Kelly said of WME. “They weren’t trying to change my values or change anything like that. They were like, ‘Whatever you want, that’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna promote whatever is important to you.’ I think that is really important with me making my decision with going with WME and it’s just been great ever since.”

Kelly has signed deals with companies like, Barcode, Postmates, Beats by Dre, Forever 21, and Outback Steakhouse. She currently has an On3 NIL valuation of $223,000.

They might have been teammates for Team USA at the AmeriCup, but as the new season approaches, Deja Kelly and Angel Reese are both gunning for the national championship.