Despite Angel Reese being one of the major factors in the WNBA’s surge in popularity this season, alongside rival Caitlin Clark, the Chicago Sky star said that her rookie salary doesn’t cover her rent.
Speaking on an Instagram live on Wednesday, Reese said her monthly rent is $8,000 – totaling $96,000 for the year – while her WNBA salary was $73,439.
“Hatin’ pays them bills baby,” she joked. “I just hope y’all know the WNBA don’t pay my bills at all. I don’t even think that pays one of my bills.
“Literally, I’m trying to think of my rent for where I stay at. Let me do the math real quick. I don’t even know my salary … 74 (thousand)?” she asked somebody off camera.
“I’m living beyond my means like y’all think,” she laughed after her friend did the calculations.
Reese – a rebounding and double-double machine – enjoyed a record-breaking rookie season, which was cut short by a wrist injury at the start of September.
On September 1, the seventh overall pick in this year’s draft broke the WNBA’s single-season record for rebounds, passing Sylvia Fowles, who retired after the 2022 season as the league’s career leader in rebounds. The record was later beaten following her injury by Las Vegas Aces superstar and league MVP A’ja Wilson.
Reese also broke the single-season record for offensive rebounds, while she has already become the fastest player in WNBA history to record 20 double-doubles and racked up the most consecutive double-doubles (15) ever in the league.
The former LSU Tigers star tallied 26 double-doubles on the season, becoming just one of two players in league history to do so in a single year.
According to website On3 – which tracks college and high school sports and Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals – Reese has endorsements with Reebok, Beats by Dre, Air Bnb, Tampax and Hershey’s Reese’s Pieces chocolates, among others.
Reese told ESPN earlier this year that her WNBA salary is a “bonus” on top of her NIL deals.
“Being able to play for what, four to five months, and get $75,000 on top of the other endorsements that I’m doing,” she said. “I think it’s a plus for me.”
Over the years, many WNBA players have plied their trade overseas in the offseason in order to earn more money, something Reese said “nobody wants” to do.
Reese is also one of several WNBA stars to have signed up to compete in Unrivaled, a new three-on-three basketball league co-founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier.
In addition to the equity stake, the duo said all salaries would be six figures, touting “the highest average salary in women’s professional sports league history.”
According to Sports Illustrated, the average salary for the eight-week tournament, which will start in January and run alongside the WNBA, is reportedly $250,000, more than the WNBA’s supermax salary of $241,984 in 2024.