As the league finally reached a new contract agreement, here&rsquo;s a look at which WNBA stars earned the most during the 2025 season&mdash;and how those numbers stack up.

Equal pay in professional basketball has long felt out of reach for WNBA players compared to their NBA counterparts&mdash;and for many, that&rsquo;s never been a surprise. But for anyone still catching up, Caitlin Clark made the message unmistakably clear during last summer&rsquo;s All-Star Weekend, arriving to warmups in a black T-shirt emblazoned with: &ldquo;Pay Us What You Owe Us.&rdquo;
Clark wasn&rsquo;t alone. As the league&rsquo;s top athletes gathered in Indianapolis for the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game, players stepped out in matching tees, using the moment to spotlight the persistent pay gap that has long defined the league. It was a unified statement&mdash;one that quickly became a cultural flashpoint and helped accelerate an already mounting conversation around compensation.
Now, months later, that moment reads less like protest and more like a turning point.
Founded in 1997 with just eight teams, the WNBA has grown into a 13-team league, with plans to expand to 18 by 2030. And while the NBA still operates at a much larger scale, the WNBA&rsquo;s surge in viewership, attendance, and cultural relevance has forced long-overdue structural change.&nbsp;

highest paid wnba players 2025

The biggest shift comes in the numbers. Under the league&rsquo;s new agreement, the salary cap for the 2026 season will jump to $7 million, with projections to surpass $10 million by the end of the deal as revenue continues to grow. Player salaries are rising accordingly: the maximum salary will reach $1.4 million in 2026 and is expected to climb beyond $2.4 million by 2032. Meanwhile, the average salary is set to hit $583,000 in 2026, with projections to exceed $1 million within the same timeframe.
Even minimum salaries&mdash;long a point of contention&mdash;are seeing a dramatic increase, ranging from $270,000 to $300,000 in 2026 depending on years of service, and expected to rise to as much as $380,000 by 2032.
For players like Clark, whose rookie contract became a talking point in its own right, the shift is especially significant. After earning just over $76,000 in her debut season, the new structure will adjust existing rookie-scale contracts upward, while future No. 1 overall picks are projected to earn around $500,000 starting in 2026&mdash;a stark contrast to previous years.
While the gap between the WNBA and NBA hasn&rsquo;t fully closed, the league is undeniably entering a new era&mdash;one where player compensation is beginning to reflect its rapidly growing audience and cultural impact.
And if last summer&rsquo;s statement tees made anything clear, it&rsquo;s that the players were never going to stop pushing until it did.

Jackie Young &ndash; Las Vegas Aces &ndash; $252,450

wnba players salaries

Kelsey Mitchell &ndash; Indiana Fever &ndash; $249,244

highest paid wnba players

Jewell Loyd &ndash; Las Vegas Aces &ndash; $245,508

wnba player salary

Kahleah Copper &ndash; Phoenix Mercury &ndash; $245,059

Arike Ogunbowale &ndash; Dallas Wings &ndash; $241,984

Gabby Williams &ndash; Seattle Storm &ndash; $225,000

Alyssa Thomas &ndash; Phoenix Mercury &ndash; $215,000

Satou Sabally &ndash; Phoenix Mercury &ndash; $215,000

Natasha Howard &ndash; Indiana Fever &ndash; $214,666

Brionna Jones &ndash; Atlanta Dream &ndash; $214,666

wnba salary

Brittney Griner &ndash; Atlanta Dream &ndash; $214,666

The Highest Paid WNBA Players in 2025, Ranked

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