Lisa Leslie paid Angel Reese one of the biggest compliments a young WNBA player could receive.
“I feel like you’re me 2.0,” Leslie said on this week’s episode of Reese’s “Unapologetically Angel” podcast.
Leslie is one of the WNBA’s all-time greats. A three-time league MVP, she spent all 12 of her seasons with the Sparks, leading them to the WNBA title in 2001 and 2002 and was named the Finals MVP both times.
Reese is off to a strong start to her professional career. Last year, the Chicago Sky forward finished second in rookie of the year voting, behind Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark, and averaged 13.6 points and a league-high 13.1 rebounds per game.
There is one area, however, where Leslie feels Reese could use some improvement — and the eight-time All-Star is more than willing to offer her assistance.
“The biggest advice I have for you is gonna be how you shoot your layups, period,” the USC star from the early 1990s told Reese. “Like, we’re gonna fix that. That’s fixable for you.”
Read more: Angel Reese: Accepting ‘villain’ role for good of women’s basketball ‘backfired on me’
Reese made only 42% (136 of 321) of her layup attempts last season. Leslie made 55% of her shots from under the basket in her first WNBA season and still finished with a career layup average of 64%.
“Just the idea that you want to get better, like I love that,” Leslie said. “For me to hear from you, and see that you’re like, ‘Yes, I want you to work with me, I want you to help me, I want to get better’ — that’s what it’s about. The fact that you already have that attitude? You’re going to get better, and I can help you get better. I’m positive.”
“Yay!” Reese responded. “Thank you!”
The two women first met at the 2023 NCAA women’s Final Four, where Reese led Louisiana State to its first national title. Reese said she heard from Leslie about a year later, when Reese was contemplating her basketball future.
“I remember you called me and were like, ‘You are ready for the WNBA,'” said Reese, the No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 draft, adding that Leslie told her, “No matter what anybody tells you, you will play in the WNBA and you will succeed. The skill — everything will transition over.”
Read more: Is Caitlin Clark behind WNBA’s new popularity? Angel Reese says it’s more than ‘just one person’
“You always instilled that confidence into me,” Reese said. “You didn’t have to do that. … I didn’t have a lot of pros to look up to or have in my corner, and you were somebody that always was super special to me.”
“I meant that when I called you,” Leslie said. “I think you need real voices that support you and say, ‘Hey, you’re gonna be amazing. Like, I see it.'”
She added: “I don’t know what the scouts were looking at. I really don’t. But falling to seven, you know, God has a plan and it is what it is. You ended up in Chicago and I’m just telling you, you were ready.”
Also on the podcast, Leslie had high praise for current USC star JuJu Watkins, who has helped bring the Trojans back into relevance over the last two years much like Leslie did decades ago.
“That’s the hardest thing to do,” said Leslie, who led the Trojans to the Elite Eight in 1992 and 1994 and was named the Naismith national women’s player of the year in 1994. “And I’m so proud of JuJu Watkins for pretty much doing the exact same thing. It is not easy to go to a program that is in last place or second to last place and you’re coming with this big name and you’re hoping that you can draw other athletes to come in. It took a lot.”
Read more: JuJu Watkins erases slump in sensational fashion as No. 6 USC defeats No. 1 UCLA
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
