How WNBA's new CBA impacts Angel Reese's Atlanta Dream contract
In her first season with Atlanta, Reese will get paid more than four times the salary she earned in each of her two seasons in Chicago.
The WNBA free agency period opened with a bombshell trade on April 6 when the Atlanta Dream acquired Angel Reese from the Chicago Sky in exchange for two first-round draft picks, a deal that could have significant financial implications for both teams. The trade allows the Sky to avoid paying Reese the much higher salary she is owed this season under the terms of the WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement negotiated between the players’ union and the league last month, which includes massive pay raises across the league. Reese, the seventh overall pick by Chicago in the 2024 WNBA Draft , enters the third season of a four-year, rookie-scale contract initially worth $324,383 in total.
However, Reese and 37 other players on existing rookie deals will have their salaries adjusted to align with the updated rookie scale established in the new CBA. That means Reese’s base salary for the 2026 season will increase from about $75,000 to $350,692, according to Spotrac. Reese’s contract has a team option for the 2027 season.
If exercised, she’d earn $396,282 – unless she receives All-WNBA honors this season, in which case she’d be eligible next season for a maximum contract worth up to $1. 4 million. That’s not a far-fetched scenario for Reese, a two-time WNBA All-Star who led the league in rebounding average in each of her first two seasons and was named to the All-Rookie team in 2024.
Although trading Reese is effectively a short-term salary dump for Chicago, which had the seventh highest player payroll in the league last season, Atlanta could consider it beneficial that Reese’s contract is cost controlled for at least one season as player salaries continue to climb. In 2026, the average salary in the WNBA is expected to be $583,000 while the minimum is $270,000 to $300,000 based on years of service. Reese’s salary is on the lower side and equivalent to 5% of the $7 million salary cap, which gives the Dream some flexibility when it comes to roster construction and navigating the remainder of free agency.