Paige Bueckers vs Angel Reese NIL comparison: Will the UConn star surpass her LSU counterpart ahead of the 2023 season?

While Angel Reese is currently the flavor of the month in college basketball, Paige Bueckers of the UConn Huskies is considered one of the comparable elite talents.

The biggest student-athlete mover in the NIL valuation rankings in the past year has been Angel Reese, whose popularity soared on account of her stellar season with LSU, leading them to the national championship.

She gained almost 3.6 million new social media followers on different platforms after her eventful NCAA tournament.

Reese has leveraged that popularity for several lucrative endorsement deals with brands like Raising Cane's and PlayStation.

Her NIL valuation during that period grew by $1.2 million to $1.6 million, which puts her at No. 5 on the NIL 100 valuation list.

Paige Bueckers recently inked a NIL deal with mobile application company, Ibotta. This aligns with recent deals being inked by top female athletes with companies that are charitable and help foster female empowerment.

“All of our values fit. Everything aligned perfectly in what we wanted to accomplish and make a priority. That’s to help families and kids, and helping give back to the community. That was obviously a perfect fit," Bueckers added. "And obviously, Ibotta was investing in women athletes, and I’m proud to be part of that group and have a partnership with them. We share a lot of the same ideals.”

Bueckers has a total of 1.6 million followers on social media, still way below Reese's 4.8 million. She has a NIL valuation of $675,000, which puts her at No. 4 among female college basketball players and No. 60 overall.

While Paige Bueckers has signed several lucrative NIL deals, the gains made by Reese during the past few months have been monumental. It will take a herculean effort by Buecker's commercial team to catch up with the LSU star.

Paige Bueckers is among the elite in the 2024 WNBA draft

Paige Bueckers was the Naismith College Player of the Year in 2021 and would possibly be considered the top prospect among the 2024 WNBA draft-eligible players if it were not for an ACL injury that ruled her out for the whole of last season.

This past year has seen several players come to the forefront of the best female college basketball players. Some of these include; Iowa's Caitlin Clark and LSU's stars Angel Reese and Hailey Van Lith.

All of those players, alongside Paige Bueckers, will be eligible for the 2024 draft making for an ultra-competitive class.

Meanwhile, the upcoming college season has raised immense interest among basketball fans due to the spread of high-value prospects in various teams battling for supremacy.