The WNBA has reached a landmark new collective bargaining agreement, upping salaries across the board and ensuring the league's 30th anniversary tips off as scheduled in May. With the negotiations in the rearview mirror and the formal agreement signed, the team at RotoWire.com broke down what the new CBA means for the league's top 20 players in projected 2026 earnings, from a $1.4M supermax down to rookie scale.
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What New WNBA CBA Means For League's Top Stars
At the top end of the WNBA's new and improved pay scale, you'll find four-time MVP and three-time WNBA champion A'Ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces, who is one of two players (along with Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty) that's virtually guaranteed to land one of the new 'supermax' pay days, projected to be $1.4 million per season.
Such an increase would mean that Wilson's 2026 pay will be 3.5-times what it was last season, when she earned $400,000 while wrapping up that fourth MVP award, guiding Las Vegas to a title over the Phoenix Mercury while averaging 23.4 points, 10.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.
Stewart, on the other hand, will see an even bigger boost in pay, going from earning $208,000 in 2025 to the new $1.4 million top end figure, which would represent 20% of the Liberty's total salary cap amount, given the new $7 million teamwide total that each team can spend on its roster each year.
Still, that $7 million cap is leaps and bounds better than the $1.5 million that teams had to spend in the last CBA, while the supermax sum of $1.4 million is equally improved than the $249,000 that teams could hand out to their best players.
In total, the $1.4 million 'supermax' amount represents a 462% increase from the previous CBA's allotment of $249,000, illustrating the historic gains that WNBA players are receiving from league brass after months of difficult negotiations.
Who Else Will See Big Pay Increases Under New WNBA CBA?
While the 'supermax' tier is getting a lot of the publicity out of the CBA revelations, the other big ticket item is the new tier of players, dubbed "Veteran Max" who will earn roughly $1.22 million per season, which could mean generational pay improvements for some of the WNBA's best players.
Among those that could qualify for the new tier include Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx, who previously earned $184,000, as well as players like Sabrina Ionescu of the Liberty, Arike Ogunbowale of the Dallas Wings and Wilson's longtime teammates in Vegas, Jewell Loyd and Jackie Young (amongst others).
In total, 10 players surveyed for this story qualify for the new 'Veteran Max' tier, with RotoWire.com estimating that those contracts will eat up roughly 17.5% of a team's given cap allotment each year.
Of those 12, only Collier and Ionescu are projected to get the full $1.22 million allotment, with Ogunbowale and Loyd getting $1.1 million and Young and Jonquel Jones of the Liberty getting an even $1 million in 2026.
After that, players like Kelsey Plum of the Los Angeles Sparks and Alyssa Thomas of the Mercury ($950,000), as well as Thomas' teammates Kahleah Copper and Satou Sabally are expected to earn $900,000 in 2026.
Earning seven figures would represent a monumental improvement for the 12, as Young previously earned the most of the bunch, at $252,000, while Loyd ($246,000), Copper ($245,000) and Ogunbowale ($242,000) were the next closest, salary wise.
What About Younger WNBA Stars?
While veterans like Wilson, Stewart and Collier may get the lion's share of the ink about the WNBA's newest CBA, the up-and-coming players that have helped push the league into the nation's hearts and minds will also see big pay increases.
Take, for instance, Iowa star and current Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, who earned $85,000 per year under the terms of her rookie contract under the old CBA. Now, thanks to the improved terms for players, Clark and her respective crop of talent under the league's 'rookie' salary tier will earn between $270,000 (the new league minimum) and $300,000 in 2026.
For Clark, we're projecting the former No.1 pick to take home $530,000 in salary during the new league year, which is more than six times the $85,000 she previously earned, speaking to the immediate impact that she's had when she's been healthy for Indiana.
While Clark's bump in pay is noteworthy, the increase for her teammate (and fellow former top pick) Aliyah Boston is even more eye-popping, going from $78,000 in 2025 to a projected $1.22 million in 2026, with her new salary being 15.6-times what she previously earned.
Much of Boston's bump comes from her being veteran max (but not supermax, as she hasn't won an MVP award yet) eligible as a fourth year All-WNBA player, which is projected to pay out around $1.05 million.
Other up-and-coming 'rookie' tier players due for big pay bumps include Cameron Brink of the Sparks (who is expected to go from $85,000 in 2025 to $390,000 in 2026), while Angel Reese of the Chicago Sky is projected to go from $81,000 in salary to $390,000 this year.
Last year's top pick (Paige Bueckers of the Dallas Wings) will see her pay go from $83,000 to $499,200, speaking to the snowball effect of benefits that's bound to roll down the mountain now that WNBPA brass like Ogunbowale and Collier have hammered out very player-friendly terms in the league's brand-new CBA.
Much of the differences alluded to above stem from the new, pick-dependent salary structure, with the No. 1 overall pick earning $500,000 per year under the new terms, with subsequent selections earning less than that. All players under existing rookie deals (like Clark, Reese and Bueckers) will have their salaries adjusted under the new CBA, leading to more money in the near term for all involved.
All told, Boston is the first of the recent picks to qualify for the WNBA's new "veteran max" salary group, which tops out at around $1.22 million per season, with All-NBA first or second team inclusion being a delineator for those that qualify for the bump in pay. By that metric, Clark would qualify for that group by 2027 as she was an All-WNBA 1st Team member in 2024, though she could hit the supermax level if she wins the MVP award this season.
In Bueckers' case, she'll reach the veteran max level in 2028, as she was an All-WBA 2nd team member as a rookie in 2025, though she'd jump to the supermax echelon by winning the MVP award this season or in 2027.
A Chaotic (And Shortened) Offseason
Now that the ink's dried on the WNBA's hard-fought CBA, the next thing that needs to be cleared up is where the glut of free agents whose contracts coincided with the expiration of the league's compact will go next.
In total, more than 100 players are slated to become free agents this offseason, creating what virtually amounts to a full league reset under the WNBA's new pay structure, meaning there should be some serious cash splashed around in the coming weeks.
Throw in the need to hold an expansion draft for the WNBA's newest franchises in Portland and Toronto, which will bring the league to 15 teams in 2026, with three more slated to join (in Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia) between 2028 and 2030.
While no firm plans have been announced about when (or where) the league will hold its expansion draft for the two teams that'll join this season, ESPN.com has reported that plans were tentatively put in place for one during the first week of April.
From there, the WNBA Draft will take place in New York City on April 13, with training camps opening for each of the 15 teams on April 19 and preseason contests tipping off on April 25.
The breakneck speed that the league will conduct its offseason in will be a sight to behold for basketball fans of all ages, as the 30th season of WNBA basketball beginning on May 8, some 51 days from now.
Over the next six weeks and change, a whole lot of league business will have to be tended to, though we know for sure that there will be a WNBA season to watch in 2026, with players, fans and ownership breathing a collective sigh of relief that a lockout will not happen after all.
