BATON ROUGE - A few of LSU basketball head coach Kim Mulkey's brightest former pupils laid claim to two season awards in the WNBA. Former Tiger star Angel Reese was named the Associated Press' Defensive Player of the Year for the 2026 WNBA season, while her former LSU teammate Flau'Jae Johnson was named to the AP's All-Rookie Team.

This is the first time Reese has been named DPOTY in her three seasons in the WNBA. After getting traded to the Atlanta Dream before the start of this season, Reese averaged a career high in points per game and steals per game as the Dream locked up a playoff spot.

Atlanta has the four-seed in the WNBA playoffs and moves into a first-round matchup with the Washington Mystics. Game one of that series will be Reese's first WNBA playoff appearance.

Johnson, in the meantime, averaged 14.9 points per game during her first season as a professional, but her Seattle Storm ended up finishing at the bottom of the league standings with an 8-36 record.