No wonder collegiate basketball icon Angel Reese said she was in no rush to get into the WNBA. Paradoxically, Reese has to take a serious pay cut despite getting a promotion to the pro level.
Basketball supporters now know that the “Bayou Barbie” was earning a much bigger paycheck when she was a collegiate star at Louisiana State University.
Many fans of Reese and superstar Caitlin Clark are outraged that, now they’ve turned pro, they are making a much smaller income than when they were amateur student-athletes at LSU and Iowa, respectively, USA Today reports.
On April 16, the newspaper reported that Clark, the number one pick who broke numerous records as a Hawkeye, will earn a combined $338,000 for four years with the Indiana Fever of the WNBA. Both Clark and Reese were making millions with NIL — or name, image and likeness — deals while in college.
According to the Daily Mail, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, who’s won the last two Super Bowls, railed against the salary that Clark will be receiving.
“This is unbelievable!” he roared on X, formerly known as Twitter. “CC has made Iowa and everyone else around her millions & surely do the same in the WNBA and will see none of it … Robbery.”
Reese did warn fans last year when her LSU Tigers won the national championship over Clark’s Iowa. She told a couple of popular podcasts that she would be staying in college for another year because she’s making a better living in Baton Rouge than in the WNBA.
Now that Reese is the number seven draft pick of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky, she is going to make even less money than Clark. Reese will earn over $300,000 over four years.
Fans spat venom onto X, decrying that a transcendent athlete like Clark could be making what amounts to lunch money for NBA star LeBron James.
“Teacher salary for a superstar is wild,” one said on X. “The WNBA has to do better. This is unacceptable.”
“Biggest woman’s hooper in the world is getting paid an entry-level consultant salary,” another said.
“Somebody said Caitlin Clark’s rookie contract is a fine for Draymond [Green of the Golden State Warriors],” a third fan barked sarcastically.
