Player salaries still an issue as WNBA prepares for Monday’s draft

Indiana Fever player Caitlin Clark. (IBJ photo/Mickey Shuey)

The spotlight on WNBA player salaries got brighter last season as Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark drew massive attention to the league during her rookie season. Now, with the WNBA Draft set for Monday, the conversation over compensation hasn’t ended—and it’s likely to get louder as players prepare to negotiate their next collective bargaining agreement.

College standout Paige Bueckers, who won an NCAA basketball title with the University of Connecticut on Sunday, is the presumptive No. 1 pick in Monday’s draft. She will receive roughly the same salary that Clark got last year as the No. 1 pick in the NBA

Bueckers’ deal will be worth just over $78,000 in base salary, compared with Clark’s $76,535 in her first year. Meanwhile, 2024 No. 1 NBA draft pick Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks is being paid about $12.6 million in his rookie season.

Talks between the WNBA and players union are ongoing about a deal when the current collective bargaining agreement expires next season. Players have indicated there could be a lockout next year if their salary demands aren’t met.

WNBA Players Union vice president Napheesa Collier has said that “no one wants” a lockout, but the players are “prepared for any possibility right now.”

“We get such a small percentage of revenue share right now that affects our salary,” she said last month on the “We Need to Talk” TV show. “We’re asking for a bigger cut of that, like more equitable to what the men’s revenue share is.”

Salaries are expected to grow exponentially in the new CBA with the 11-year media rights deal the WNBA signed last July that will bring in at least $200 million a year. That deal goes into effect next year.

How much of a salary increase the players get is the question, though that won’t change this year’s rookie contracts.

Bueckers has one of the top name, image and likeness valuations for women’s basketball players over the last few years and those deals are expected to carry over into her pro career. She already has deals with Nike, Gatorade, Bose, Verizon and Dunkin’ and her portfolio is expected to grow.

What is the WNBA rookie salary scale?

If Bueckers is the top pick in the WNBA as expected, she will earn around $78,000 in base salary. The 10th overall selection earns about $72,000.

Bueckers and others could earn hundreds of thousands dollars in league and team marketing deals as well as bonuses for performances on the court—boosting their WNBA earnings to potentially $500,000.

The 3-on-3 Unrivaled league turns up the heat

The inaugural season of the new 3-on-3 league started by Collier and Breanna Stewart drew rave reviews from the nearly three dozen players who played in it. A lot of the praise was for their earnings. Unrivaled had the highest average salary for players of any professional women’s sports league with many earning six figures for the eight-week season.

Players in Unrivaled have an average salary of more than $220,000, which is close to the maximum base salary in the WNBA.

Things that worked well for the new league will certainly be discussed at the CBA bargaining table.

The huge gap between WNBA and NBA salaries

There are various reasons why the top salaries for WNBA players are much less than the minimum salary of about $1,157,153 for NBA players (excluding those on two-way contracts).

The primary one is the difference in profit margins for each league, driven in part by media rights.

The NBA’s revenue topped $10 billion for the first time in 2022 and the league has a $76 billion 11-year media rights deal with Disney (ABC/ESPN), NBC and Amazon Prime Video that starts next season.

The WNBA makes $60 million a year in broadcast deals for one more season that’s half as long as the NBA season. The WNBA does not publicly release its revenue numbers.

A report released last month by financial services and consulting firm Deloitte’s report predicted women’s basketball revenue would top $1 billion in 2025, an increase from $710 million last year.