The subject of WNBA Player Salaries resurfaced recently as Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner languishes in a Russian prison, sentenced to 9 years in prison for drug trafficking. Griner — and many other WNBA players — have played in Russia and other foreign markets because they can earn much more income there than with the WNBA.
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In fact, WNBA superstars Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, Emma Messeman and Courtney Vandersloot are among the players who have signed contracts to play in Turkey next offseason where they can earn between $300,000 and $400,000, according to ESPN.
The average WNBA player salary for the 2022 season was $128,369, HerHoopStats.com reported. That’s an average of $4,012 for each game in the 32-game WNBA season. Sportstrac.com reported that the maximum WNBA player salary is $228,094 and only 14 players earn more than $200,000.
For comparison, the average NBA salary is $7.9 million per season, according to HoopsAddict.com. The WNBA regular season ends this Sunday, August 14, and the playoffs begin Wednesday, August 17. Keep reading to learn more about how these players make their money.
More lucrative to go abroad
With their NBA counterparts earning on average more than 34 times their maximum salary, it makes sense that more than three-quarters of WNBA players would go somewhere overseas to play and earn more money. However, this will be more difficult starting in 2023 as a new agreement between the players’ union and the league calls for “WNBA prioritization.” This means teams will be able to penalize players who show up late to WNBA training camps due to their involvement in overseas leagues. Many European leagues end in April, when WNBA camps open, or even as late as May, ESPN.com reported.
“Prioritization is the biggest topic of conversation for me in the WNBA, especially over the next couple of years,” Breanna Stewart of the Seattle Storm said in February, according to ESPN.com. “With this prioritization, you are cutting off one of my sources of income.”
In the NBA, the minimum salary is $925,258 – more than four times what the WNBA’s top players make this season – and about the same for the top four-year WNBA contracts.
While earning $200,000 to shoot baskets and collect rebounds sounds good, remember this: For the 2021-22 NBA season, 10 players had contracts worth an average of more than $40 million per month. season. Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors will have the highest base salary in the NBA in 2022-23 earning $48.07 million, NBCSports.com reported.
So, what is the net worth of a veteran player in each league? Diana Taurasi, 40, is in her 18th season in the WNBA – all with the Phoenix Mercury – and was MVP in 2009. Her net worth is $2 million, WealthyPersons.com reported. And what about LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers, 37 and another veteran player in his 19th season with the NBA? His net worth is $570 million.
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Future pay scale
The WNBA and players’ union have reached agreement on an eight-year collective bargaining agreement through the 2027 season, ahead of the 2020 campaign. The agreement ensures that the league’s top players will eventually earn more than $500,000 per year. year and that the average salary will reach $130,000.
But the low end isn’t that impressive – at least for now.
One of the players earning a salary below $60,069 for 2022 is Katie Lou Samuelson of the Los Angeles Sparks. For a home game on June 23, Samuelson wore custom-made sneakers that read “Pay Female Athletes” in bold white letters on a black background.
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Jami Farkas contributed to the reporting of this article.
This article was originally published on GOBankingRates.com: How much do WNBA players make?
