Women’s basketball is on the rise at the moment. While the WNBA is booming, another professional league, Unrivaled, is making its moves. The league is played in a 3-on-3 format and is composed of athletes from the WNBA. And with the players’ demand for more money, the latest announcement might come as a sigh of relief for the likes of Angel Reese.
The tensions are rising in the WNBA. With the league beginning to get a decent cash flow, the players are feeling financially deprived. Thankfully, with the preparations almost done for a new season, Alex Bazzell dropped a bombshell.
Unrivaled To Scale Up Angel Reese And Other Athletes’ Salaries
In a recent announcement, Bazzell told Front Office Sports about the plans for the future. He pointed out that the league has now confirmed almost 90% of the roster for 2026. And that was not all. The league’s co-founder also stated that the average salary will go up significantly this time.
Last time, the league paid an average of $220,000 to all their athletes. And this is significantly higher than what the WNBA pays. With under $150,000 as an average salary, the lowest WNBA salary is recorded at $66,000. And for athletes like Reese, such a news comes as a huge morale booster.
“The numbers are going up because the business outperformed every metric that we had,” Bazzell said. “It’s part of our business model that we built from the ground up, which is that as the business continues to drive more revenue, the revenue is going to get funneled back into the players.”
Unrivaled has already signed nearly 90% of its 2026 roster, cofounder Alex Bazzell told FOS.
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) August 5, 2025
He also confirmed that the average salary will increase from $220,000 last season.
Now, the salaries going up will mean that Reese and others are right in their demand. As the WNBA scales up its business, players are voicing equal pay demands louder than ever. And supporting the movement wholeheartedly is Dave Portnoy.
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Dave Portnoy Supports Angel Reese For Equal Pay
Dave Portnoy might be an out and out Caitlin Clark supporter. But for players demanding equal pay, the Barstool Sports owner stands with Reese. In a recent video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Portnoy lashed at the ones who had spoken against the movement.
“I don’t know how anybody in the world with a brain, and maybe my brain is just bigger than most, can rationally say women don’t deserve more money at this point,” said Portnoy (via X/@stoolpresidente).
Surely, with the wheel of change seemingly moving, the movement will only get stronger. As leagues like Unrivaled gain traction, rising salaries seem inevitable. Now, the fans will eagerly wait to see how things pan out next.
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