Michael VoepelMar 21, 2026, 05:23 PM ET
- Michael Voepel is a senior writer who covers the WNBA, women's college basketball and other college sports. Voepel began covering women's basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.
The WNBA players had many issues to negotiate with their new collective bargaining agreement, some more complicated than others. But salary is a currency every worker understands, and the league will offer historical gains in players' salaries for 2026 and beyond.
The WNBA board of governors unanimously ratified the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement on Tuesday, one day after the players also unanimously approved the seven-year CBA. But the league's general managers are already hard at work with the compressed timeline for building their teams this season. The expansion drafts for new franchises Toronto and Portland will be April 6, followed by a massive free agency period expected to start April 7 and the collegiate/overseas draft April 13.
Now that we have more of the specifics of salary structure, here are some examples of what it will look like for players of all levels for the 2026 season, when the salary cap will be $7 million per team, compared to $1.5 million in 2025.
Jump to salaries: Elite veteran | Average veteran | Minimum veteran | Elite rookie | Top draft picks
Elite veteran
Example: A'ja Wilson, 6-foot-4 center
Age to start this season: 29
Years of WNBA experience: 8
2025 salary: $200,000
Projected 2026 salary: $1.4 million, supermax
Wilson won her third WNBA title and unprecedented fourth MVP award in 2025. The 2018 No. 1 draft pick by the Las Vegas Aces, Wilson has averaged 21.4 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in her career. The Las Vegas Journal-Review has reported that the Aces are eager to sign the free agent Wilson to a supermax deal.
Last season, Wilson took a pay cut from the supermax, which was then $249,244, to help the Aces afford the championship roster around her. She wasn't her team's highest-paid player in 2025; that was guard Jewell Loyd, who made $249,032.
Wilson has been so valuable and durable for the Aces that it seems likely she will get paid as much as is allowed this season. Plus, the cash value for various league awards also is increasing. Should Wilson win a fifth MVP this season, it would be worth $60,000, compared to $15,450 last year.
As for other elite players, the max salary for 2026 will be $1.19 million.
Average salary veteran
Example: Alanna Smith, 6-4 forward
Age to start this season: 29
Years of WNBA experience: 7
2025 salary: $150,000
Projected 2026 salary: $600,000
The WNBA is listing the "average" salary as being $583,800 in 2026, which is an estimate. We will get a better sense of the actual range for elite and midtier veteran salaries by observing how general managers build teams under the new CBA.
Smith, drafted No. 8 in 2019, spent four seasons establishing herself before she really clicked with the Chicago Sky as a starter in 2023. The past two seasons, she has been a big part of the Minnesota Lynx, helping them make the WNBA Finals in 2024 and earning co-Defensive Player of the Year with Wilson in 2025.
Smith is the kind of reliable veteran essential for a team seeking a championship. She just won the Unrivaled title with Mist.
Minimum salary veteran
Erica Wheeler, 5-7 guard
Age to start this season: 35
Years of WNBA experience: 10
2025 salary: $78,831
Projected 2026 salary: $300,000
Wheeler made the veteran minimum last season with the Seattle Storm, averaging 10.3 points and 3.3 assists. The season before that, with the Indiana Fever, she made $202,154 and averaged 3.6 points and 1.8 assists. She gave as much effort and dedication in both situations, which partly explains her value even in her mid-30s.
Wheeler's experience and team-first mindset can help a franchise. Plus, she still has on-court skills, as we saw during the Unrivaled season. The minimum for players with zero years of experience is $270,000; one to three years is $277,500; four to six years is $285,000; seven to nine years is $292,500; and 10 or more is $300,000. Wheeler will at least be in that last category.
Undrafted out of Rutgers in 2013, she had to work to earn a spot in the league. She has carried an underdog mentality gracefully, including as All-Star Game MVP in 2019. The way Wheeler welcomed and treated Fever rookie sensation Caitlin Clark in 2024 was the type of leadership general managers notice.
Elite rookie contract
Example: Caitlin Clark, 6-0 guard
Age to start this season: 24
Years of WNBA experience: 2
2025 salary: $78,066
Projected 2026 salary: $530,000
The standard WNBA rookie contracts have been for three years with a club option for a fourth, with players earning more for being drafted higher. The union made it a priority to get better pay for the 2026 incoming rookies and players such as Clark, whose existing rookie deals will be adjusted -- reduced by 4% for each year elapsed since signing -- to the new CBA parameters. For Clark, the No. 1 pick in 2024 entering the third year of her rookie deal, that should be nearly $530,000.
And thanks to a new CBA feature called "EPIC" -- Exceptional Performance on Initial Contract -- players can renegotiate the fourth year of their rookie deal and agree to a three-year contract extension. Honors such as being named to the All-WNBA first or second team could get them a max deal, or winning MVP a supermax deal. Clark was limited to 13 games last year due to injuries. But she was All-WNBA as a rookie in 2024 and thus will be eligible for a max deal in 2027.
This CBA dramatically improves all players' salaries. For those still on rookie deals, the difference between what they would have gotten under the old CBA and what they could get now is particularly striking because of how much it accelerates their earning potential.
Projected 2026 No. 1 draft pick
Example: Azzi Fudd, 5-11 guard
Age to start this season: 23
Projected 2026 salary: $500,000
Fudd was eligible age-wise for the WNBA draft last season since she had redshirted at UConn in 2023-24. But she opted to use her final year of college eligibility and is chasing a perfect season and a second consecutive NCAA championship with the Huskies. She will benefit by starting her WNBA career under the new CBA.
The rookie salary scale for 2026 starts at $500,000 for the No. 1 pick. The second pick gets $466,913, the third $436,016, etc., and finishes at $289,133 for the last seven picks in the first round. Second- and third-round picks and any other rookies get $270,000.
The WNBA draft is scheduled for April 13, with the Dallas Wings having the No. 1 pick. Fudd, Spain's Awa Fam and TCU's Olivia Miles are projected as the top-three picks in ESPN's most recent mock draft.
