4 weeks ago
The WNBA is entering its 30th season, a milestone worthy of arsenic large of a ceremony arsenic its players could muster – and this year, they mustered up a lot. The Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) negotiated a landmark corporate bargaining agreement (CBA) pinch nan convention that, among different things, introduces a gross sharing strategy and an estimated mean net of $583,000.
This season, each players will make nan minimum of $270,000, up from $66,000; others whitethorn make arsenic overmuch arsenic $1.4m. It’s money that Alysha Clark, a seasoned guardant for nan Dallas Wings and vice-president of nan WNBPA, describes to nan Guardian arsenic “amazing”. One of nan astir unthinkable aspects of nan caller deal, she says, is having nan expertise to pave nan measurement for early generations of WNBA players.
“This isn’t only going to heighten nan superstars successful our convention and nan rising stars of nan rookies, but it’s going to alteration nan lives of nan heartbeat of nan league,” says Clark, who will make $277,500, up from $110,000 2 years ago. “And that’s nan mostly of players, players for illustration me, that capable successful nan gaps betwixt those two.”
“And that’s precisely what nan generations earlier america were fighting for america to make judge that we had – that not knowing a world without nan WNBA would ne'er exist,” Clark adds. “And now our occupation was to transportation that torch. And now nan players coming in, not only do they not cognize a world without nan WNBA, but now they’re not going to cognize a world wherever they’re having to scrape by to beryllium a master jock and they’re going to beryllium decently compensated for conscionable their gifts and talents.”
This woody will let those players to put successful their futures, including financial and beingness opportunities, and besides to support their families.
Minnesota Lynx defender Courtney Williams, who was paid $175,000 successful 2024 and $180,000 past season, is looking guardant to what nan caller CBA – and her $1.19m net – will let her to do. Gone are nan days that players person to take betwixt their early and their present; now, they tin person both.
Williams’s first bid of business will beryllium taking attraction of her mother. “I’m getting my mama a caller house,” she says. “So my mama is successful a trailer correct now. We’ve been successful it for my full life. So I’m capable to put her successful a caller house. Pay disconnected our cars, discontinue her. She wasn’t comfortable capable to fto maine return complete everything. But now she’s like, ‘All right, you can’, you cognize what I’m saying? So it’s different now.”
For some players, nan caller CBA has changed really they spot nan adjacent fewer years of their lives unfolding. In nan past, galore WNBA players spent their offseasons playing abroad, wherever salaries successful countries specified arsenic Russia, Turkey and China dwarfed what they were receiving successful nan US.
Playing overseas has not travel without risks. In summation to injuries and nan challenges that travel pinch navigating unfamiliar countries and languages, immoderate players person encountered superior problems. Brittney Griner was held overseas successful Russia for 10 months aft she entered nan state successful 2022 pinch cannabis vape cartridges; had Griner not felt compelled to play overseas to thief make ends meet, she whitethorn not person recovered herself successful that position successful nan first place.
The caller salaries will springiness players nan action to walk much clip astatine location during nan offseason, whether that’s playing successful home leagues specified arsenic Unrivaled and Athletes Unlimited, aliases taking a break.
“We want players successful nan early generations to beryllium capable to enactment astatine home,” Clark says. “We don’t want to person to person them sacrifice clip distant from family and friends during holidays, missing moments for illustration we’ve had to do.”
“We want them to beryllium capable to make a surviving to beryllium capable to enactment present year-round, activity connected their craft, return clip to heal and activity connected their body,” she continues. “So that measurement erstwhile they show up for nan W season, they’re nan best, you know, that they, that they tin perchance beryllium personally and that conscionable makes nan merchandise amended connected nan floor, nighttime successful and nighttime out.”
The Dallas Wings’ Maddy Siegrist, who was drafted by nan squad successful 2023, acknowledges this reality. “I was astir apt astatine nan tail extremity of wherever everybody was going overseas [in nan offseason],” says Siegrist, whose net is up to $501,180 from $83,781 past year. “I deliberation evidently now, that’s a choice. With truthful galore opportunities present and evidently pinch nan summation successful salaries, it’s nary longer thing you person to do if you don’t want to.”
Alanna Smith, who will gain $1.19m pinch nan Wings this season, told nan Guardian she’s moreover reasoning differently about retirement.
“Future planning, retirement-wise, was ever connected my mind,” Smith says, “and really I was going to person to proceed aft my hoops career, fundamentally to conscionable prolong myself. But now pinch nan salaries that we’re getting, it’s a small spot easier to scheme for nan early and not person to deliberation astir a monolithic profession extracurricular of basketball.”
Smith adds that earlier nan caller deal, her biggest interest was what benignant of profession she’d person aft nan WNBA. Those options included coaching. “With this type of money, you don’t needfully person to do that if you don’t want to,” she says. “It conscionable gives a small much financial freedom.”
That freedom will beryllium evident connected nan outside, beryllium it done purchases of homes, cars, aliases different emblematic signs of an summation successful income, but there’s also an soul translator happening. Both Williams and Clark besides acknowledged that nan months-long conflict pinch nan WNBA – nan erstwhile CBA lapsed successful October 2025, and nan caller 1 was ratified successful March – was astir a batch much than their bottommost line.
For Clark, emotion respected by nan league’s activity was crucial. That included “respecting our trade and what we’re doing,” and that “also comes pinch compensating america for doing such. So those 2 were very overmuch tied together”.
To Williams, nan thought of respect and compensation aren’t rather arsenic black-and-white. “That’s truthful tricky, right?” she says. “Because astatine nan extremity of nan day, group will beryllium like, ‘All right, well, y’all won measurement more,’ and that’s valid, but it’s for illustration everything is simply a process.”
The specifications of what it took to get to nan caller woody tin get lost, she adds, because nan WNBPA negotiated pinch nan convention to get adjacent to their projected changes. “If you really understand what’s going on, we were connected our past CBA making possibly almost 9% [in gross sharing],” Williams says. “And it sewage to nan constituent wherever they person to salary america backmost $8m. If we were losing money … really tin you salary personification backmost if you’re losing money? It’s for illustration … nan net is not a existent place.”
Williams was referencing nan February 2026 uncover that, for nan first successful its history, nan league made capable money to trigger automatic gross sharing pinch players past season. All 13 teams received a full of $8m to disagreement up among players, an announcement that came arsenic players were refuting claims by nan convention that nan WNBA couldn’t meet nan WNBPA’s gross sharing proposals.
When told nan NBA didn’t go profitable until its 40th play – nan WNBA, again, successful its 30th – Williams laughs and shakes her head. “I conscionable request everybody to conscionable beryllium back, do a small investigation and understand what’s going on. But nan point is, cipher ever is going to, and that’s virtually OK. That’s why it’s long, good, bad, ugly, [and] beautiful.”
She laughs again. “If y’all [are] talking astir it, it’s a bully point to support talking about. Just support talking astir it and support helping america turn it because nan group that emotion us, gonna support loving us, group that dislike connected us, gonna support moving retired of views.”
The conflict doesn’t extremity present conscionable because milestones person been met, Williams adds. “I deliberation erstwhile everybody wrapped their mind astir conscionable nan process of getting location … We made history. We’re nan first convention that made this large of a jump connected our ain salaries, right? So it’s like, we spot what’s going on. Everybody tin spot what’s going on.”
