Caitlin Clark’s Salary Breakdown Reveals How Underpaid She Is in the WNBA originally appeared on Sports news. Add The Sporting News as Favorite source by clicking here.
The WNBA and WNBPA agreed to a 40-day extension of the collective bargaining agreement that was set to expire on November 30.
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Yet there appears to be little momentum for a new deal, as player salary increase do not include a sufficiently large percentage of revenue sharing with the league that will increase as WNBA operations expand.
Indiana fever Guard Caitlin Clark is in a prime position compared to other WNBA stars. She started earning millions of dollars through NIL sponsorships before playing her first professional match in 2024.
Sportico crunched the numbers and found that Clark was the sixth highest-earning woman among female professional athletes in 2025. She earned $16 million from her many endorsements in a year in which she signed a lucrative new deal with Nike.
However, Clark only earned $114,076 for playing with the Fever during her second WNBA season. And it’s not because she only played 13 games due to injury.
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Clark’s base salary was $78,066 in the second year of his four-year rookie contract. She earned an additional $30,000 bonus for Indiana’s Commissioner’s Cup victory, an additional $3,435 when the Fever reached the WNBA semifinals, and an additional $2,575 when she was named an All-Star for the second straight season.
The WNBA and WNBPA agree that salaries will increase significantly in the next CBA. But disagreements remain over how these pay increases will be implemented – or how much they will be from 2026.
A player of Clark’s caliber won’t make $114,000 for long. But the fact that it represents such a tiny portion of its revenue is a problem the WNBA must decisively address.
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