NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Paige Bueckers will receive roughly the same salary that Caitlin Clark got last year as the top pick in the WNBA draft as player salaries continue to be a topic of conversation.
As the in Monday's , Bueckers鈥� deal will be worth just over $78,000 in base salary. Talks between the league 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 if their salary demands aren鈥檛 meet. The spotlight on WNBA player salaries got brighter following Clark鈥檚 and Angel Reese鈥檚 much talked about rookie earnings last season.
WNBA Players Union vice president Napheesa Collier has said that 鈥渘o one wants鈥� a lockout but the players are 鈥減repared for any possibility right now.鈥�
鈥淲e get such a small percentage of revenue share right now that affects our salary,鈥� she said last month on the 鈥淲e Need to Talk鈥� TV show. 鈥淲e鈥檙e asking for a bigger cut of that, like more equitable to what the men鈥檚 revenue share is.鈥�
Salaries are expected to grow exponentially in the new CBA with the 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 (NIL) valuations for women鈥檚 basketball players over the last few years and those deals are expected to carry over into her pro career. Bueckers already has deals with Nike, Gatorade, Bose, Verizon, 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 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 鈥� boosting their WNBA earnings to potentially $500,000.
The 3-on-3 Unrivaled league turns up the heat
The 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鈥檚 sports league with many earning six-figure salaries 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鈥檚 revenues 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 one. The WNBA does not publicly release its revenue numbers.
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AP WNBA:
Doug Feinberg, The Associated Press
