The WNBA’s rising popularity has brought forth a frank conversation about salary. Players in the WNBA, despite being elite athletes, earn some of the lowest wages in professional sports.
The conversation continued throughout the season as the league saw record viewership and 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 you guys know,” Reese said on Instagram Live on Wednesday, “the WNBA doesn’t pay my bills at all. I don’t even think it pays any of my bills. Literally.”
Reese confessed that she didn’t even know her WNBA salary, which pales in comparison to all her other endorsements. As the No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 draft, Reese earned $73,439 in her first season under the CBA’s current rookie pay scale. However, Reese revealed on Wednesday that she pays $8,000 a month to rent her apartment, which amounts to $96,000 a year.
“I live 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 majority of her income: She has deals with major brands like Reebok, Good American, Beats by Dre and Reese’s Pieces.
In January, Reese will also join 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 the figures expected to be around $250,000 per player, according to multiple reports. Players will also receive stock in the league, which signed a media rights deal with TNT this week.
Due to low wages in the WNBA, players often travel to play in other leagues to supplement their income and stay in shape during the offseason. For example, Reese’s Sky teammate Kamilla Cardoso spends her offseason in a women’s basketball league in China.
Part of Unrivaled’s appeal is that players don’t have to go abroad to play in a league in the offseason, something Reese told reporters this summer after her plans to join the league were announced.
“Being able to be in Miami from January to March without having to go abroad,” Reese said in August, via ESPN. “No one wants to go abroad. Many of us never want to go abroad, but some people unfortunately have to go abroad so that we can make six figures in three months, be housed in Miami, just be able to get better. ..I’m excited about it.”
