Lets see which WNBA superstars have pocketed the most cash money over the past few years. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Delle Donne, a longtime Lyme disease patient, elected to sit out the 2020 season due to her susceptibility to the virus. The lowest-paid player in the WNBA is Mercurys Kaela Davis. 1. This offseason, two of the league's top talents changed teams in free agency. That means the highest paid WNBA players only make about 1.8 times as much as the average WNBA salary. In the NBA world, weve reduced salary costs to buying wins. Stephen Curry became the first player to eclipse $40 million per year when he signed a record 5-year contract worth $201 million in 2017, starting with $34,682,550 in the 2017-18 season and ending with the largest earnings in the 2021-22 season with a record payout of $45,780,966, If his contract continues Curry is expected to be the first player to eclipse $50 million in the (2023-24) season. Larry Bird was the first player to earn $5 million or more with a salary of $7,070,000 in the 1991-92 season. To make our point, we need to look at the viewership statistics of a more established womens sports league: womens college basketball. They are Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart, and Jewell Loyd. With the 2021 WNBA season tipping off Friday, we took a look at the league's highest-paid players. 1- Liz Cambage; The Highest Paid WNBA Player Liz Cambage plays in the Las Vegas Aces and is 29 years old. We may earn some commission if you were to buy something via our affiliate links, Top 10 Most Selling Football Boots In The World | Nike Mercurial Vapor Tops The List As Used By Ronaldo, Mbappe & Neymar, Top 10 Most Expensive Injuries In Football, The Best Apps/Websites to Watch MF & DAZN X Series 005 Live Online | 5 March 2023, The Best Apps/Websites To Watch Jay Swingler vs Nicholai Perrett Live Online | 5 March 2023. At the end of the day, salaries have to be related to revenue. Im with Roc Nation, where Im the only woman signed. Hansel Enmanuel. In celebration, Mercury GM Jim Pitman emphasized the obvious: [Diana] is the heart of our franchise, the first face on our Mount Rushmore, the best winner and competitor in the womens game. And being named to the 2020 All-WNBA Second Team adds another merit bonus to her cap. Candace also has a lucrative contract as an NBA analyst for Turner Sports. Young is set to make $252,450 this season.. However, shes often been very vocal about the low pay for WNBA players. In the past, shes had contracts with Puma and BodyArmor. In 2022, the highest paid WNBA players are Breanna Stewart, DeWanna Bonner, Jewell Loyd, Elena Delle Donne, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Brittney Griner, and Diana Taurasi. In Australia, she currently plays for the Southside Flyers. Women National Basketball Association is the top tier league which gave a new turn to basketball world by providing opportunity to female athletes to show their talent. As of 2022, the league average of salaries in the WNBA is $102,751 among 151 athletes. WNBA stars Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart, andJewell Loyd earn the most money in the WNBA, puttingthemamongthe highest paid athletesof all time. Where shell make another $100,000 for training in the United States during the WNBA off-season. When asked if overseas money was life-changing by60 Minutes,Sue Birdsaid it was for her. According to Spotrac, Jewell Loyd and Arike Ogunbowale are currently set to be the highest-paid WNBA players in the 2023 season, with each of them earning $234,936. Phoenix Mercury teammates Skylar Diggins-Smith and Brittany Griner are not far behind on the richest woman basketball players list. And has had deals with State Farm and American Express in the past. Last season Loyd averaged 17.9 points, 3.8 assists, and 1.4 steals, earning her All-WNBA First team honors. According to Her Hoop Stats, heres a breakdown of how much rookies drafted in 2022 made this season: According to Spotrac, Rhyne Howard, NaLyssa Smith, Shakira Austin and Emily Engstler, the top four picks in 2022, all have salaries of $72,141. Deals can't be officially signed until Feb. 1. NBA Player Salaries - 2022-2023 . The problem is just that the WNBA isnt pushed as well as it could be. The average NBA player makes about 60x as much as the average WNBA player. Kobe Bryant became just the second player to reach $30 million when the 201314 season began. Borderline unstoppable in this years playoffs, Gray helped the Aces win their first WNBA title en route to her first WNBA Finals MVP. Marta Vieira da Silva is undoubtedly the highest paid basketball player in the WNBA. The base salary for WNBA rookies varies on when (or if) players were selected in the WNBA Draft. The highest paid WNBA players ever might surprise you. Why Do College Basketball Teams Cut Down The Net? If there is any change in the details, we will make the, available here. Not surprisingly, Sue Bird made the salary cap of $221,450 in 2021. Heres everything you need to know about salaries in the WNBA (all numbers via Spotrac): In terms of base salaries, three athletes are tied for the highest-paid player in the WNBA: Seattle Storm stars Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart and Phoenix Mercury icon Diana Taurasi. She also has 4.2 million TikTok followers, making her one of the most followed collegiate athletes in the United States.Haley, like her sister, has endorsement deals with Under Armour, Raising Canes, Intuit TurboTax, and Victoria's Secret PINK. Shes racked up quite a resume. Storm F Breanna Stewart: $228,094 (WNBA max salary) Contract: 1 year, $228,094 Average annual value: $228,094 The list could look different closer to the 2023 WNBA season. As we dive into the salaries of WNBA players, however, the difference is stark. Diana struck a deal with BodyArmor, a sports drink, in 2018, which she still endorses today. Jalen Wilson is a forward for the Kansas University Jayhawks mens basketball team, who has an NIL value of $914,000.Wilson has been a star for the Jayhawks, averaging 11.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game in his freshman season. She pulls in almost $1 million per season abroad, which far outweighs her top-dollar WNBA salary. No doubt, this WNBA veteran is a superstar. Get ready for the 2023 WNBA season: Save 23% on your subscription! Who is the highest-paid player in the WNBA? The lowest-paid player in the WNBA is Mercury's Kaela Davis. While Diana no longer plays overseas, her career there was an extremely lucrative one. Before we get started, lets set some ground rules: We used 2022 salaries to date as the springboard for our rankings. Shes a 7-time blocks leader, and has won a championship with her team, the Phoenix Mercury. Why? Clocking in roughly $228,094 for the year, Loyd is currently in the midst of bringing the Storm back to the WNBA mountaintop. That means that the NBA brings in about 125 times as much revenue as the WNBA. Maybe they should play one on one? Young was the Aces' first overall pick in 2019 and has been critical for the reigning WNBA champions. As they say, acandlelosesnothingbylighting another candle. At the age of 32, Elena is still giving brilliant performance and winning games for her team. Duke Blue Devils vs UNC Tar Heels College Basketball Rivalry. She has 1 million followers on Instagram, 465,000 on TikTok, and 77,000 on Twitter.She is expected to be a top pick in the WNBA Draft, whenever she declares. A 12 team league cant possibly bring in the same revenue as a 30-team league. Plus Skylars additional endorsements and her work as a Phoenix Suns broadcasts as analyst, altogether which weve guess-timated to be near $500,000. Breanna signed a multi-year deal with Nike in 2016. The ability to dunk in the WNBA pays off handsomely, which is one of the reasons why the 67 Brittney is such a valuable asset. To me, this says that viewers are interested in watching womens sports. So its no mystery why shes one of the leagues top earners. However, the NBA uses a "soft" salary cap, which means that significant "salary exceptions" allow NBA teams to exceed their allotted amount in order to sign players. Most recently, her impact was big enough on and off the court to net her Sports Illustrateds Sportsperson of the Year. [3] Another exception, known as the mid-level exception, allows for teams that are over the salary cap to sign one or more players as long as they do not exceed the total amount of the average NBA salary. Check out the highest-paid player on each WNBA team for the 2022 campaign below: Dallas Wings Moriah Jefferson ($180,200) Moriah Jefferson. However, we think the discrepancy is larger than it should be based on viewership and appetite for womens professional sports. In 2020, the leagues, Heres everything you need to know about salaries in the WNBA (all numbers via. Since Sues team, the Seattle Storm, won the 2020 WNBA Championship, each player pockets an additional $11,536 for that feat. Top 10: Who is the Best WNBA Player of All Time? Shaqir ONeal is one of the highest earning college basketball players with an NIL value of $1.1 million.Son of legendary NBA center, Shaquille ONeal, Shaqir is a freshman at Texas Southern University. Seems like the top spots are dominated by the Connecticut Suns and Seattle Storm huh? In 2020, the top WNBA base salary was $215,000; in 2019, the top WNBA base salary was $117,500. When that happens, the average WNBA salary will be more representative of the quality of the players in the W. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Highest-paid WNBA Players of 2022 by Total Salary Dollar figures via Spotrac based on a 2022 salary cap of $1,379,170. With the 2022 WNBA season tipping off Friday, we took a look at the league's highest-paid players. In recent years, the popularity of the league has been increasing dramatically. And thus still earned her $1.5 million salary! The salary cap is determined during the offseason, but as stated earlier, it is liable to change.[2]. In spite of the Suns disappointing loss in the WNBA Finals, Bonner enjoyed an efficient postseason that saw her come up clutch in the semifinals against the Chicago Sky. The Phoenix Mercury point guard also earned the title of having the most All-WNBA First Team honors a total of 10! In 2021, they hit the floor with Chicago native Candace Parker, who stands as the second-highest earner on the team at $195,000. The highest paid WNBA players are certainly not paid enough. And a 2021 championship with the Chicago Sky. The ratio of the highest paid WNBA player to the 144th best paid WNBA player is about 3.8. [1] LeBron James became the third in the 201617 season. The highest paid players in the WNBA in 2022 are those with super-maximum contracts. Now that youre locked in, lets see the results. She was drafted by Phoenix first overall in the 2004 WNBA draft. Would you be willing to send a $5 tip to our Venmo tip jar because it helps support this site and our reporting? Chelsea Gray is a hardened veteran, and one of the best shotmakers in the league. The lowest-paid player in the WNBA is Mercurys. But the reality is, the more brands that pump money into womens sports, the more the sport is going to thrive. This is over half of the average viewership for an average NFL game, the undisputed king of American sports from a viewership and revenue perspective. For opponents of increased average WNBA salaries, this is the end of the argument. Magic Johnson became the first player to earn $10 million or more in the 94-95 season with a salary of $14,660,000. Cavinder has endorsement deals with Under Armour, Raising Canes, Intuit TurboTax, and Victoria's Secret PINK. What are the richest contracts in WNBA history? Who is the highest-paid WNBA player in 2023? Boxers Who Died In The Ring | How Their Death Impact the Sports? Check out all the highest paid WNBA players below, and come back when new WNBA starssign newcontracts to see how their salaries stack up! She, along with 7 other WNBA players, also has a Glossier deal. Loyd is no doubt, one of the greatest basketball player of all times. Jackie Young, the highest-paid WNBA player As of February, the title of the highest-paid WNBA player belongs to Jackie Young of the Las Vegas Aces. Please logout and login again. Here's the list of the top 25 highest paid players in the WNBA in 2022: Breanna Stewart: Seattle Storm - $228,094 Diana Taurasi: Phoenix Mercury - $228,094 Jewell Loyd: Seattle Storm - $228,094 Brittney Griner: Phoenix Mercury - $227,900 DeWanna Bonner: Connecticut Sun - $227,900 Elena Delle Donne: Washington Mystics - $227,900 Liz Cambage also endorsed Wilson basketballs as of 2021. With new coaches, a stacked rookie class, and an abundance of superstars across the league's 12 teams, the WNBA's 26th season is poised to be one of the most exciting yet. See the highest and lowest player salaries in the NBA on ESPN.com. Here are the complete details about the top 10 highest paid WNBA players in the world along with their salaries and contracts. She has helped the Storm win two championships, with the most recent coming in the 2020 'wubble'. Headlines like The Highest WNBA salary is $228,000 while in the NBA its over $45 million are well-intentioned, but disingenuous at best. Each player is making the supermax salary of $228,094. Timme is a two-time Second-Team All-American, a two-time First-Team All-WCC selection, and the 2022 WCC Player of the Year. And shesignedon to exclusively wear LeBron Jamessignatureline on court. In 2021, the star signed a multiyear shoe deal with Puma that guarantees her the creation and release of her own signature sneaker. The average mens tournament game averaged 10.7 million viewers per game. UFC 285 Fighters Salaries | Jones vs Gane Purse Payouts | How Much Fighters Earn from PPV Money Bonuses? Michael Jordan was the first NBA player to sign a contract worth over $20 million and in fact it exceeded $30 million as well in a season (1996-97) and (1997-98) where he earned $33,140,000; this was a record he had held for 20 years. Three players, two of whom suit up for the same WNBA team, will earn a league-high $228,094 on supermax salaries for the upcoming season. During her enviable pro career thus far, Brittney has been a 6-time WNBA All-Star. The Larry Bird exception, more commonly known as Bird Rights, allows teams to re-sign a current player only if he has played for that particular team for a minimum of three years. The Liberties young star point guard Sabrina Ionescu is slated to make $76,297 this upcoming season. She recently starred in some CarMax commercials. Meanwhile, just for reference, tennis phenom Naomi Osaka comes in at $57.3 million according to Forbes. Data provided by HighPostHoops.com 2023 Average Rankings Tiffany Hayes ($215,000) is the highest-paid player for the Atlanta Dream for the second consecutive year. But this line of logic is deeply flawed. She will earn a base salary of $228,094 next season. And did we mention that shes also the leagues all-time highest scorer? Candace Parker Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images. Basketball is also no exception and women players receive much low worthy contracts as compared to men. In 2020, the Women's National Basketball Association came to termson a new collective bargaining agreement that included significant salary bumps. The NBA was a tiny league that nearly collapsed multiple times. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that many of the richest contracts in WNBA history were signed over the last couple of seasons. While we have cited some numbers above that indicate that players in the W are underpaid even relative to current revenue, the point is that the leagues revenue is not where it should be. WNBA stars also earn lucrative endorsement deals worth millions per year off the court. Seven players from five different teams will earn the WNBA supermax salary of. . Thats why, for office professionals for example, sites that provide pay transparency like Glassdoor have been so clutch in addressing pay gaps. Next on the list of the highest paid WNBA player in the world is DeWanna Bonner. uolas Tubelis is a Lithuanian-born player who currently plays for the Arizona Wildcats as a junior power forward and has an NIL value of $787,000.With 10,500 followers on Instagram, 31,000 on TikTok, and 1,100 on Twitter, he is currently part of the Arizona Assist Club.While he has no NIL deals currently, his growing value will likely ensure that he receives some prominent deals in the future. A'ja Wilson has a long and illustrious career ahead of her. Patrick Ewing became the first player to earn $15 million or more in the 95-96 season with a . Salaries will continue to rise in the years to come, as the WNBA's salary cap will increase by three percent annually. These seven players will each earn a base supermax salary of $221,450 for the 2021 WNBA season. Who are therichest womenbasketball players? She made $1.5 million per season with the Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg. In 2022, shell make $227,900 from her Phoenix Mercury contract. Diana Taurasi - 228.094 dollars. From my perspective, the gender pay gap in basketball is attributable to the WNBA being a new league and not achieving the viewership it is capable of. However, some still manage to make 6 figures for their incredible performances. Your login session has expired. Here is Spotrac.com's top 10 list of highest-paid WNBA players by average annual value. The 27-year-old has the 151st-ranked salary in the league at $1,607. Basketball icon, WNBA salaries: Who has the highest, league average, more. Well give a quick synopsis of the economic perspective here. And has never come off the bench! This is a great book detailing the history of professional Womens basketball. As we dive into the salaries of WNBA players, however, the difference is stark. Also in the top 10 richest contracts in WNBA history are Storm legend Sue Bird and Mercury star Brittney Griner. We have three points and reasons why we think the average WNBA salary and the league revenue as a whole is set to explode. Who Are the Highest-Paid College Basketball Players Right Now. Shes made our list for all the other money shes raked in beyond being a WNBA rock star. But if womens college basketball can come close to competing with mens college basketball during tournament time, the WNBA should be able to draw more eyes. In the NBA, the average salary is about $7.5 million. Which added $5,150 to her earnings. Enmanuel famously has commercials with both Gatorade, and J. Coles Puma collaboration named Dreamer.. Who is the highest paid WNBA player in the world right now? The second highest earner on the Aces is two-time league MVP A'ja Wilson. The WNBA is on the precipice of a sharp inflection point where the total league revenue will explode and the average WNBA salary can finally increase to where it should be. Mercury G Diana Taurasi: $228,094 (WNBA max salary) Contract: 2 years, $449,544 Average annual value: $224,772 t-1. Her decision came in spite of a panel of league-appointed doctors who would not deem her medically excused from play in the WNBA Bubble, which would have allowed the Mystics to withhold her 2020 salary. Brittney signed a lucrative endorsement deal with Nike seven years ago in her rookie year. , heres a breakdown of how much rookies drafted in 2022 made this season: According to Spotrac, Rhyne Howard, NaLyssa Smith, Shakira Austin and Emily Engstler, the top four picks in 2022, all have salaries of $72,141. Who is the highest-paid WNBA player? Enmanuel, who was born with no left arm, is from the Dominican Republic and attends Northwestern State University. Even just a small increase in income in the WNBA revenue will lead to more equitable salaries for these players who are the best of the best. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go.