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The WNBA's new collective bargaining agreement raises player salaries significantly, with a minimum of $270,000 and potential earnings up to $1.4 million. This change aims to enhance players' lives and support future generations in the league.
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The WNBA is entering its 30th season, a milestone worthy of as big of a celebration as its players could muster â and this year, they mustered up a lot. The Womenâs National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) negotiated a landmark collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the league that, among other things, introduces a revenue sharing system and an estimated average salary of $583,000.
This season, all players will make the minimum of $270,000, up from $66,000; others may make as much as $1.4m. Itâs money that Alysha Clark, a veteran forward for the Dallas Wings and vice-president of the WNBPA, describes to the Guardian as âamazingâ. One of the most incredible aspects of the new deal, she says, is having the ability to pave the way for future generations of WNBA players.
âThis isnât only going to enhance the superstars in our league and the rising stars of the rookies, but itâs going to change the lives of the heartbeat of the league,â says Clark, who will make $277,500, up from $110,000 two years ago. âAnd thatâs the majority of players, players like me, that fill in the gaps between those two.â
âAnd thatâs exactly what the generations before us were fighting for us to make sure that we had â that not knowing a world without the WNBA would never exist,â Clark adds. âAnd now our job was to carry that torch. And now the players coming in, not only do they not know a world without the WNBA, but now theyâre not going to know a world where theyâre having to scrape by to be a professional athlete and theyâre going to be properly compensated for just their gifts and talents.â
This deal will allow those players to invest in their futures, including financial and physical opportunities, and also to support their families.
Minnesota Lynx guard Courtney Williams, who was paid $175,000 in 2024 and $180,000 last season, is looking forward to what the new CBA â and her $1.19m salary â will allow her to do. Gone are the days that players have to choose between their future and their present; now, they can have both.
Williamsâs first order of business will be taking care of her mother. âIâm getting my mama a new house,â she says. âSo my mama is in a trailer right now. Weâve been in it for my whole life. So Iâm able to put her in a new house. Pay off our cars, retire her. She wasnât comfortable enough to let me take over everything. But now sheâs like, âAll right, you canâ, you know what Iâm saying? So itâs different now.â
For someplayers, the new CBA has changed how they see the next few years of their lives unfolding. In the past, many WNBA players playing abroad, where salaries in countries such as Russia, Turkey and China dwarfed what they were receiving in the US.
The new minimum salary for WNBA players in 2023 is $270,000, up from $66,000.
Top WNBA players can earn as much as $1.4 million under the new collective bargaining agreement.
The new CBA is expected to change the lives of future WNBA players by ensuring they are properly compensated and can invest in their futures.
Alysha Clark is a veteran forward for the Dallas Wings and the vice-president of the Womenâs National Basketball Players Association.

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Playing overseas has not come without risks. In addition to injuries and the challenges that come with navigating unfamiliar countries and languages, some players have encountered serious problems. Brittney Griner was held overseas in Russia for 10 months after she entered the country in 2022 with cannabis vape cartridges; had Griner not felt compelled to play overseas to help make ends meet, she may not have found herself in that position in the first place.

Brittney Griner was one of the many WNBA stars who spent the offseason playing professionally in Russia for a much higher salary. Photograph: Andrea Kareth/Getty Images
The new salaries will give players the option to spend more time at home during the offseason, whether thatâs playing in domestic leagues such as Unrivaled and Athletes Unlimited, or taking a break.
âWe want players in the future generations to be able to stay at home,â Clark says. âWe donât want to have to have them sacrifice time away from family and friends during holidays, missing moments like weâve had to do.â
âWe want them to be able to make a living to be able to stay here year-round, work on their craft, take time to heal and work on their body,â she continues. âSo that way when they show up for the W season, theyâre the best, you know, that they, that they can possibly be personally and that just makes the product better on the floor, night in and night out.â
The Dallas Wingsâ Maddy Siegrist, who was drafted by the team in 2023, acknowledges this reality. âI was probably at the tail end of where everybody was going overseas [in the offseason],â says Siegrist, whose salary is up to $501,180 from $83,781 last year. âI think obviously now, thatâs a choice. With so many opportunities here and obviously with the increase in salaries, itâs no longer something you have to do if you donât want to.â
Alanna Smith, who will earn $1.19m with the Wings this season, told the Guardian sheâs even thinking differentlyabout retirement.
âFuture planning, retirement-wise, was always on my mind,â Smith says, âand how I was going to have to continue after my basketball career, basically to just sustain myself. But now with the salaries that weâre getting, itâs a little bit easier to plan for the future and not have to think about a massive career outside of basketball.â
Smith adds that before the new deal, her biggest concern was what kind of career sheâd have after the WNBA. Those options included coaching. âWith this type of money, you donât necessarily have to do that if you donât want to,â she says. âIt just gives a little more financial freedom.â
That freedomwill be evident on the outside, be it through purchases of homes, cars, or other typical signs of an increase in income, but thereâs alsoan internal transformation happening. Both Williams and Clark also acknowledged that the months-long fight with the WNBA â the previous CBA lapsed in October 2025, and the new one was ratified in March â was about a lot more than their bottom line.
For Clark, feeling respected by the leagueâs leadership was crucial. That included ârespecting our craft and what weâre doing,â and that âalso comes with compensating us for doing such. So those two were very much tied togetherâ.
To Williams, the idea of respect and compensation arenât quite as black-and-white. âThatâs so tricky, right?â she says. âBecause at the end of the day, people will be like, âAll right, well, yâall won way more,â and thatâs valid, but itâs like everything is a process.â

Two-time All-Star Courtney Williams has seen her salary increase from $180,000 last year to $1.19m this year. Photograph: Matt Krohn/USA Today Sports
The details of what it took to get to the new deal can get lost, she adds, because the WNBPA negotiated with the league to get close to their proposed changes. âIf you really understand whatâs going on, we were on our last CBA making maybe almost 9% [in revenue sharing],â Williams says. âAnd it got to the point where they have to pay us back $8m. If we were losing money ⊠how can you pay somebody back if youâre losing money? Itâs like ⊠the internet is not a real place.â
Williams was referencing the February 2026 reveal that, for the first in its history, the league made enough money to trigger automatic revenue sharing with players last season. All 13 teams received a total of $8m to divide up among players, an announcement that came as players were refuting claims by the league that the WNBA couldnât meet the WNBPAâs revenue sharing proposals.
When told the NBA didnât become profitable until its 40th season â the WNBA, again, in its 30th â Williams laughs and shakes her head. âI just need everybody to just sit back, do a little research and understand whatâs going on. But the thing is, nobody ever is going to, and thatâs literally OK. Thatâs why itâs long, good, bad, ugly, [and] beautiful.â
She laughs again. âIf yâall [are] talking about it, itâs a good thing to keep talking about. Just keep talking about it and keep helping us grow it because the people that love us, gonna keep loving us, people that hate on us, gonna keep running out of views.â
The fight doesnât stop here just because milestones have been met, Williams adds. âI think once everybody wrapped their mind around just the process of getting there ⊠We made history. Weâre the first league that made this big of a jump on our own salaries, right? So itâs like, we see whatâs going on. Everybody can see whatâs going on.â