Flau’jae Johnson speaks about ‘life-changing’ growth of women’s basketball

Women’s basketball has been catapulted to the forefront of college athletics during the age of NIL. Stars like Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark paved the way for the likes of Juju Watkins and Hannah Hidalgo to be the next faces of the sport.

For now, however, the torch has been passed to Reese’s national-championship winning teammate, Flau’jae Johnson. Remaining at LSU for the 2024-25 season, Johnson has been at the forefront of women’s college athletics on and off the court since she arrived in Baton Rouge.

With her rap career flourishing alongside her 14.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game average from this past season with the Tigers — Johnson will undoubtedly be one of the faces of the sport next season.

“It’s honestly been life-changing. I’m not going to lie,” Johnson said during a recent appearance on the Stephen A. Smith Show. “And I’m in the midst of it, but I’m still a fan of the game. I’m still a fan of seeing Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese — like all of these figures change the game and to be a part of it, as a fan first, is so dope even doing stuff like this. So just coming up into it and being able to impact it has been amazing.”

With ready-made stars like Johnson poised to take over as one of the faces of women’s college basketball, she is as confident as ever in her abilities ahead of her junior season.

She has already played a major role in helping change the perception of women’s college basketball but was humble when Smith credited her for her success on the court and the mic. “I think it was bound to happen,” she said about the rise of women’s basketball. Johnson has been playing basketball and rapping for her entire life. The only difference, for her, is that she has a much larger platform to showcase her skills.

Johnson has cashed in on her success as well. She currently ranks No. 14 in the On3 NIL 100 with a $1.2 million NIL Valuation — the highest of any active women’s college basketball player and the second in women’s college athletics behind fellow LSU Tiger Livvy Dunne, who comes in at No. 2.

Although she credits her stardom to being in the right place at the right time, at the end of the day Johnson is a fan of women’s basketball at her core and is excited to see what’s next for women’s basketball in the post-Caitlin Clark era.

“It was a perfect time,” Johnson said of her rise to success. “That’s when it started to become big. Everybody thought the men are going to be the face of NIL and then boom — the women, we started running it, and getting all of the brand deals … Everybody watches women’s sports now.”