Angel Reese is speaking candidly about the inequity in pro women’s basketball.
The LSU phenom shared in a recent Teen Vogue cover story that she plans to play in the WNBA despite being aware of the salary undercutting.
WNBA players don’t get paid as much as they should,” she told the outlet. “Being able to grow this now, while I’m in college, and doing this now can help me when I get to the WNBA.”
That growth she’s referring to is her reported $1.6 million in NIL deals amassed in less than a few years.
Per an On3 report, Reese is earning $392,000/year on endorsement deals with companies like Bose, JanSport, McDonald’s, Outback Steakhouse, Xfinity, among others.
In a recent interview with sports podcast I Am Athlete, Angel Reese who is a star player for the Louisiana State University Tigers said “The money I’m making is more than some of the people that are in the league that might be top players.”
She’s been in the headlines for her heroic performance in the NCAA 2023 national championship against the Iowa Hawkeyes, which was was the most-watched women’s college basketball game, drawing in 9.9 million viewers, per The New York Times.
“We fully expect her to be bringing in more deals coming after this,” Bob Lynch, SponsorUnited’s founder and CEO, told Forbes. “She’s a businesswoman as well as anything else. Every kid growing up right now who follows her is watching her, not only seeing her perform in basketball but seeing her do endorsement deals.”