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Chicago Sky star Angel Reese made her feelings clear about the recent negotiations between WNBA and its Player Association, WNBPA, over a new collective negotiation agreement.
Reese said the proposal WNBA sent to the players was “disrespectful.”
“It was an eye opener for me. Like hearing things and hearing things and not things that I was happy to hear. It was disrespectful the things we were sent back, the suggestion that we were sent back,” Reese told journalists in WNBA All-Star Weekend on Friday.
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“It’s important to be able to be vocal. If I am leaning back, it seems that I don’t care.”
Reese is one of the league’s more popular and polarizing players and has built a passionate to a large extent on her ongoing rivalry with Phenom Caitlin Clark, which goes back to their college days. Clarks and Reese’s Rookie season in 2024 saw the league break more viewing and participation records, especially because of games with Clark and Indiana Fever.
Indiana Fever Guard Caitlin Clark (22) Fouls Chicago Sky Forward Angel Reese (5) in the second half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. (Trevor Ruszkowski-Published Pictures)
“Obviously, women’s basketball skyrocketing. And it’s important for us to get what we want now, not only now, but also for the future,” Reese said. “It’s really nice to have veterinarians who may not play for 10 years, but they are talking for us because they know how important it is right now.”
The players met with league officials on Thursday, and the two sides did not come to a deal. Reese is one of many WNBA players who have expressed criticism for the league’s handling of negotiations.
New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu said the players wouldn’t just settle for “minimum” in the negotiations, while Phoenix Mercury player Satou Sabally called the league’s latest CBA offer a “clap in the face.”
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert told Associated Press after the meeting that the meeting was “constructive.”
“It was very constructive dialogue. I think you know is obviously part of the process of going back and forth and listening to the players, they listen to us and the owners who represent the board council,” Engelbert said. “I still feel really optimistic that we can get some transformation done by the exit. But it’s a process.”
Reese previously ignited a four -storm on social media after claiming the players are prepared to sit out to demand higher wages during an episode of Her podcast At the beginning of March while previously previously CBA negotiations.
Caitlin Clark must be held back in heated confrontation with wnba ref
Angel Reese of Chicago Sky responds during the second half of the game against Washington Mystics at Eaglebank Arena on July 8, 2025 in Fairfax, Virginia. (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
“I have to get into the meetings because I hear as ‘if you don’t give us what we want, we’re sitting out,'” Reese said.
Reese has seized his financial situation in the past.
“Wnba Don’t pay my bills at all. I don’t even think it pays one of my bills. Literally, “Reese said.
Reese signed a four-year, $ 324,383 rookie contract ahead of her first WNBA season in 2024. She earned less than $ 75,000 in her first year and will do less than that in 2025.
In October, Reese admitted that she could not afford to pay her bills based on this salary, in an Instagram Live video.
“I live beyond my funds. Hate paying them bills, baby. I just hope you know that wnba won’t pay my bills at all,” she said. “I don’t even think it pays one of my bills. Literally I try to think of my rent for where I live at. Let me do the math really quickly. I don’t even know my (wnba) salary, $ 74,000? “
Reese said she pays $ 8,000 for rent.
Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese leads to the dressing room after being postponed from a WNBA basketball match against New York Liberty in the second half on Tuesday, June 4, 2024 in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
“Babe, if you thought … that wnba check won’t pay anything,” she added. “Did it even pay that my car note? … I wouldn’t even be able to eat a sandwich with it. I wouldn’t even be able to eat. I wouldn’t be able to live.”
Wnba Players’ Union chose its current collective negotiation agreement last October, two years before its expiry. The current CBA will still cover the 2025 season, so the two sides have a year to negotiate a new deal.
