Notre Dame women's basketball alumnae earn million-dollar WNBA contracts

Notre Dame women's basketball alumnae earn million-dollar WNBA contracts

So far, seven Notre Dame women’s basketball alumnae have received new contracts during the WNBA offseason. With the WNBA Draft set for Monday, April 13, and the regular season set to begin Friday, May 8, things have moved fast in the free agency market since the official signing window opened Friday, April 10.

A new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) was reached between the WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association March 20, which has led to an increase in pay for players across the league. In fact, four of the top 10 most expensive contracts in the league are held by Notre Dame women’s basketball alumnae.

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Jackie Young made history as the first WNBA player to sign a contract worth more than $1 million, re-signing with the Las Vegas Aces on a one-year deal worth just shy of $1.2 million. Young has spent her entire career with the Aces after being drafted No. 1 overall in the 2019 WNBA Draft. She won an NCAA National Championship with the Irish in 2018 and is Indiana high school girls basketball’s all-time leading scorer.

Joining Young is her teammate Jewell Loyd, who signed a three-year contract worth $2.2 million with the Aces. Loyd played for the Irish from 2012-15 and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 WNBA Draft by the Seattle Storm.

The top scorer in Notre Dame history, the author of two game-winning shots in the 2018 NCAA Final Four to help clinch the Irish a national championship and the fifth overall pick in the 2019 WNBA Draft Arike Ogunbowale was classified as the Dallas Wings’ “Core Player” and received a multi-year contract extension worth $1.4 million.

Another 2018 NCAA National Champion and the sister of Notre Dame assistant coach Michaela Mabrey, Marina Mabrey was signed to a two-year deal worth $1.2 million with the Toronto Tempo, one of the WNBA’s two first-year expansion teams. This is Mabrey’s fifth different team in the WNBA, but now she is being positioned as the Tempo’s franchise star, designated as their “Core Player.”

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Outside the Top 10

Jessica Shepard, another 2018 NCAA National Champion with the Irish, will become teammates with Ogunbowale once again with the Wings. Shepard signed a two-year deal worth between $1 and $1.05 million.

Skylar Diggins, a South Bend Washington Indiana High School Athletic Association 4A state champion and a member of Notre Dame’s Ring of Honor, signed a two-year deal with the Chicago Sky. While the salary has not yet been announced, this will be Diggins’ fourth WNBA team. She is a seven-time WNBA all-star and six-time All-WNBA selection.

Kayla McBride, a Notre Dame Ring of Honor member who played for the Irish from 2010-14 before being selected with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft by the San Antonio Stars/Las Vegas Aces, re-signed with the Minnesota Lynx after suiting up with them for the past five seasons and becoming the first WNBA player to surpass 100 3-pointers in a single season last year. Her contract is a two-year deal worth $1.19 million.

More: Notre Dame women's basketball's Cassandre Prosper declares for WNBA Draft

Notre Dame alumnae Brianna Turner (2014-19), Lindsay Allen (2013-17) and Kathryn Westbeld (2014-18) are still free agents as of publication.

Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at ksmedley@usatodayco.com or follow him on X @KyleMSmedley.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Ogunbowale, Diggins, more Notre Dame greats get paid in WNBA Free Agency