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The rising popularity of the WNBA has brought with it a frank conversation about salary. Players in the WNBA, despite being top athletes, earn some of the lowest wages in professional sports.
The conversation has persisted throughout the season, as the league saw record viewership and record attendance. This week, Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese — one of the top rookies in the 2024 season — was blunt about how little her WNBA salary contributes to her overall income.
“I just hope y’all know,” Reese said Wednesday on Instagram Live, “the WNBA don’t pay my bills at all. I don’t even think it pays one of my bills. Literally.”
Reese confessed that she didn’t even know her WNBA salary, which is dwarfed by all of her other endorsements. As the No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 draft, Reese made $73,439 in her first season under the current CBA’s rookie pay scale. Reese revealed Wednesday, however, that she is paying $8,000 per month to rent her apartment — rounding out to $96,000 per year.
“I’m living beyond my means,” Reese joked
Reese will make $74,909 next season, followed by $82,399 in her third year and $93,636 in the fourth and final year of her rookie deal.
Like many WNBA players, Reese’s endorsements make up the bulk of her income: She has deals with big brands like Reebok, Good American, Beats by Dre and Reese’s Pieces.
In January, Reese will also be joining Unrivaled, an offseason 3-on-3 league founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier. The league, which runs from January to March in Miami, will pay all members six-figure salaries, with figures expected to be around $250,000 per player, per multiple reports. Players will also receive equity in the league, which signed a media rights deal with TNT this week.
Because of the low pay in the WNBA, players often travel to play in other leagues to supplement their income and stay in shape throughout the offseason. Reese’s Sky teammate Kamilla Cardoso, for example, is spending her offseason at a women’s basketball league in China.
Part of Unrivaled’s appeal is that players do not have to go overseas in order to play in an offseason league, something that Reese mentioned to reporters this summer after her plans to join the league were announced.
“Being able to be in Miami from January to March, not having to go overseas,” Reese said in August, via ESPN. “Nobody wants to go overseas. A lot of us never want to have to go overseas, but some people do have to go overseas unfortunately, so being able to make six figures within three months, being able to be housed in Miami, just being able to get better. … I’m excited for it.”
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