“I’m just not the kind of coach to sit people down and influence them on what agents to pick or talk about what they want to do. They surely know they have the COVID year to come back, and they would be more than welcome, but I try to stay away from having any kind of influential conversations. … They made it perfectly clear what they wanted to do.” from the crowd.
Mulkey’s decision to pull the two stars from the game to allow the crowd to celebrate them might be her way of signaling that both Reese and Van Lith are eying the WNBA. In terms of why O’Neal was there to support Reese, it just makes sense for the NBA legend to be at Reese’s potential last home game considering the two have become very close over the last year or so.
Reese has referred to O’Neal as a “father figure” and the NBA legend, who attended LSU, has helped her navigate her newfound fame. “He’s super inspiring to me,” Reese recently told “He’s so genuine, he’s been there for me through tough times. He just gets it, and there’s not a more perfect person for me to be tight with. As Reese was on the court with the 7-foot-1 LSU legend, the capacity crowd chanted “One more year!” in a clear message to try and convince the star forward to use her final year of eligibility, which she received as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and remain with the team.
