PIC: Flau'jae Johnson's mom Kia Brooks shares adorable snap of LSU star with 1YO brother and gold medal from FIBA AmeriCup

LSU Tigers star Flau'jae Johnson was one of the prospects in women's college basketball who opted against declaring for the 2025 WNBA draft despite being eligible. Instead, she chose to remain in Baton Rouge for an extra season. Weeks after her decision, Johnson was named to the 12-person Team USA roster for the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup in Chile.

On Sunday, Johnson won her first gold medal with Team USA after their 92-84 win over Brazil in the championship game, granting them a direct ticket to the 2026 FIBA World Cup. Johnson's family, including her ever-supportive mother and manager Kia Brooks and her stepbrother, were in Chile to support her.

On Monday, Brooks shared a heartwarming picture on Instagram of Flau'jae Johnson and her one-year-old step-brother asleep with the LSU star still draped in her AmeriCup gold medal. Brooks captioned the post:

"The most beautiful picture of this entire Chile 🇨🇱 trip!!! #MothersLove #Siblings #SiblingGoals #20YearGap #AmeriCup #2025 #FIBA #fibabasketball #Womensbasketball #Journey #Flaujae #Goldmedalist #ProudMom #BeautifulMoment #GodIsSoAmazing."

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Flau'jae Johnson embraces a different role for Team USA

Flau'jae Johnson had a stellar season for LSU, averaging 18.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists as the Tigers' primary scorer. In an interview posted on the Team USA Instagram page during the 2025 AmeriCup, she revealed that she envisioned a different role for herself in the talented roster that included Notre Dame standout Hannah Hidalgo.

Johnson averaged 4.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and one assist per game during the tournament, further reinforcing her altered role in the Team USA setup that had Hidalgo as the primary scorer and TCU Horned Frogs star Olivia Miles as the primary playmaker.

"It doesn't matter who's scoring most of the points, it doesn't matter, you just want to impact the game," Flau'jae Johnson said. "I feel like USA is gonna help me in that way, I'm not nervous, I came here to play. I've been working so hard me and my trainer.

"Ball screen reads and coach came up to me and said, 'You're hitting the reads, getting in the pocket.' So, I just wanted to show that I can be more of a scorer 'cause I can score more. But it's like being a defender, being a talker, being a leader. Being a passer, that's one thing I really worked on. Really controlling the pace of the game."

Despite leaving the scoring and playmaking to her teammates, Flau'jae Johnson exploded for 22 points, seven rebounds and two assists in Team USA's win against the Dominican Republic in the quarterfinal and became just the ninth player in American history to register 20-plus points at the AmeriCup.