How much do girl basketball players make

How much do WNBA players make? Top 10 salaries, max contracts, rookie deals for 2022 season

The WNBA is back for its 26th season and this year looks poised to be one of its most intriguing campaigns in recent memory.

The Chicago Sky edged past the Las Vegas Aces to claim its first time in franchise history last season. Kahleah Copper won Finals MVP, Candace Parker shed tears and the basketball world wondered what moves teams could make to push themselves into the upper echelon of the league.

It was a summer filled with transactions: the Sparks added Liz Cambage and Katie Lou Samuelson, reinvigorating a talented squad; Diamond DeShields joined Phoenix, adding to the Mercury's impressive depth. And guard Rhyne Howard went No. 1 overall to the Atlanta Dream.

MORE: When does the 2022 WNBA season start? Schedule, key dates, in-season tournament format

The W has continued to steadily grow in popularity over the years. But, added interest makes one wonder: How much do WNBA players make?

Well, Sporting News has you covered, detailing rookie salaries, max and supermax deals, as well as a list of the top-10 highest-paid players in the league.

How much do WNBA players make?

The average WNBA salary for the 2020-21 season was $120,648, according to Yahoo Finance.

There are only 14 players making $200,000 or more, according to Sportrac, headlined by Diana Taurasi, Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart, who are all earning $228,094.

By comparison, 17 NBA players earn at least $35 million per season, according to ESPN.

How much do WNBA rookies make?

The base salary for WNBA rookies varies on when (or if) players were selected in the WNBA Draft. For picks No. 1-4 in the 2022 WNBA Draft, the base salary is expected to be $72,141 in year one. For picks 5-8, the rookie base salary drops to $69,224. Picks 9-12 earn $66,306, while second round picks will receive $63,389 in 2022. Third rounders and undrafted rookies will receive $60,471, per Her Hoop Stats.

The contracts are non-negotiable, except for circumstances involving undrafted rookies, whose contracts can be one or two years.

Rookie contracts aren't protected by the league's CBA, per Her Hoop Stats, meaning players only receive compensation for the part of the season when they are actually on the roster.

According to Her Hoop Stats, rookie base salaries increase by three percent year over year, meaning that picks in the 2022 WNBA Draft will receive three percent more than the top four picks in the 2021 draft.

Meanwhile, rookies' salaries increase by two percent between their first and second season. Drafted rookies receive a 10 percent salary bump between year two and year three of their contract and, if offered a team option in year four, stand to receive another sizable contract boost.

Who is the highest-paid WNBA player?

Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi, Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd and Seattle forward Breanna Stewart are the highest-paid players in the WNBA, each earning $228,094, according to Spotrac.

What does a max contract look like in the WNBA?

As is the case in the men's game, the WNBA has both max and supermax deals for the league's truly elite players. The standard maximum contract is for 14.2 percent of a team's salary. Meanwhile, the supermax, designed to reward the league's best players and push younger players to remain with the team that drafted them, is 16. 5 percent of a team's salary.

The supermax pays players about 16 percent more than a standard max contract, according to Her Hoop Stats. For the 2022 season, the highest supermax deal a player can receive is $228,094. The most a player can receive on a standard max contract during the 2022 season is $196,267, per Her Hoop Stats.

Highest-paid WNBA players

1.	Diana Taurasi	Phoenix Mercury	$228,094
2.	Jewell Loyd	Seattle Storm	$228,094
3.	Breanna Stewart	Seattle Storm	$228,094
4.	DeWanna Bonner	Connecticut Sun	$227,900
5.	Skylar Diggins-Smith	Phoenix Mercury	$227,900
6.	Brittney Griner	Phoenix Mercury	$227,900
7.	Elena Delle Donne	Washington Mystics	$227,900
8.	Natasha Howard	New York Liberty	$221,450
9.	Tiffany Hayes	Atlanta Dream	$215,000
10.	Alyssa Thomas	Connecticut Sun	$206,000

WNBA salaries: How much money do WNBA players, rookies make in 2022?

WNBA

Basketball

Among the most entertaining leagues to watch in sports, the WNBA has built a raucous and supportive fan base over the course of its nearly 30 year existence.

It is the pinnacle of women's basketball, an environment that has cultivated some of the best players in the game's history  — names like Tamika Catchings, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird and Candace Parker, among others.

Still, much remains unknown about the league and its finances, particularly in regards to player's contracts and salaries.

How much do WNBA players make? The Sporting News breaks it down.

How much do WNBA players make?

The average WNBA salary for the 2020-21 season was $120,648, according to Yahoo Finance. There are only 14 players making $200,000 or more, according to Sportrac, headlined by Taurasi, Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart, who are all earning $228,094. By comparison, 17 NBA players earn $35 million per season, according to ESPN.

WNBA rookie salary scale

The base salary for WNBA rookies varies on when (or if) players were selected in the WNBA Draft. For picks No. 1-4, the base salary is expected to be $72,141 in year one. For picks 5-8, the rookie base salary drops to $69,224. Picks 9-12 will earn $66,306, while second round picks will receive $63,389 in 2022. Third rounders and undrafted rookies will receive $60,471, per HerHoopStats.

The contracts are non-negotiable, except for circumstances involving undrafted rookies, whose contracts can be one or two years.

Rookie contracts aren't protected by league's CBA, per HerHoopStats, meaning players only receive compensation for the part of the season when they are actually on the roster.

According to HerHoopStats, rookie base salaries increase by three percent year over year, meaning that picks in the 2022 WNBA Draft will receive three percent more than the top four picks in the 2021 draft.

Meanwhile, rookies' salaries increase by two percent between their first and second season. Drafted rookies receive a 10 percent salary bump between year two and year three of their contract and, if offered a team option in year four, stand to receive another sizable contract boost.

Who is the highest-paid WNBA player?

Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi, Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd and Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart are the highest-paid players in the WNBA, each earning $228,094, according to Spotrac.

Highest paid WNBA players

1.	Diana Taurasi	Phoenix Mercury	$228,094
2.	Jewell Loyd	Seattle Storm	$228,094
3.	Breanna Stewart	Seattle Storm	$228,094
4.	DeWanna Bonner	Connecticut Sun	$227,900
5.	Skylar Diggins-Smith	Phoenix Mercury	$227,900
6.	Brittney Griner	Phoenix Mercury	$227,900
7.	Elena Delle Donne	Washington Mystics	$227,900
8.	Natasha Howard	New York Liberty	$221,450
9.	Tiffany Hayes	Atlanta Dream	$215,000
10.	Alyssa Thomas	Connecticut Sun	$206,000

Basketball

WNBA

Author(s)

How much do NBA stars earn? Salary rating-2019 - Blogg on the floor - Blogs

We count other people's millions.

Many people know that the NBA has a salary cap. It is set at $109.14 million for the 2019/20 season.

But not everyone knows that the salary cap is directly tied to the league's income. And with it - the salaries of all players. Basketball players make millions of dollars because the NBA makes billions of dollars.

8.2 billion, to be exact - that's how much the NBA expects to receive in the coming season in the form of "Basketball-related income" (BRI, basketball-related income). This BRI includes only $400-500 million converted from yuan, so don't worry: even a complete break in relations with China won't take more than five or six percent off the BRI.

Under the 2017 Collective Agreement between the league and the players union, 50%* of BRI goes to players in the form of salaries.

* - actually not, but in order not to load the text with nuances, I will explain them in the comments.

There are 510 jobs in the league - each of the 30 teams can apply for 17 people.

51 NBA players - exactly 10% - will receive at least $20 million next season **.

** - and again I suggest going to the comments for those who want abstruseness.

The “Gini coefficient” and other indicators of financial inequality in the NBA as in a single economy look better than the global ones: if in the real world the richest 10% own 75-85% of all wealth (in the USA - 70-75% according to various estimates ), then in the NBA, the top 10% earn only 35% of all salaries.

But even this 35% is more than one and a half billion dollars. Or, in other words, 1,655 NBA rookie minimum contracts.

Let's look at how this one and a half billion is distributed. For a round number, we will limit ourselves to the top 50 earning more than 20 million; The 51st player in the ranking with a salary of exactly 20 million is Indiana guard Malcolm Brogdon. If you go to the basketball section less than once a week, then most likely you don’t even know who it is. And he earns more than Aguero, James, Neuer or any Serie A player except Cristiano.

Who is not in this part of the rating? For example, Philadelphia's rising star Ben Simmons, who signed a five-year, $170 million contract this summer that won't take effect until a year later, is now playing on a "modest" $8 million rookie salary.

For the same reason, Utah leader Donovan Mitchell, Dallas' delightful Luka Doncic, or intimidating rookie Zion Williamson are not yet on the NBA's Most Valuable Players list. All of them still earn a fixed salary (depending on the number under which the player was taken in the draft), for which they need to play 4 seasons before claiming a luxurious life.

Who is in this part of the rating? Giannis. The current NBA MVP - and the future, according to some forecasts, too.

Greek-Frick did not make the top 40 for a number of reasons, the main of which is that the NBA does not revise existing contracts (with some exceptions that are so rare that they do not even deserve an asterisk and a footnote in the commentary). Antetokounmpo signed his contract back in 2016, by that time the Greek had never played in the All-Star Game, averaging 17 points and playing as the main point guard of the very weak Bucks (49losses in a season).

And Giannis, not so long ago a beggar teenager who sold souvenirs on the streets of Athens and ran in patched sneakers, was so grateful that Milwaukee believed in him that he did not insist on either a maximum contract or even a player option in the last year contract. He was told that he would receive $100 million, and he was stunned by this amount - and it does not matter that at the same time as him, Stephen Adams also signed for exactly the same contract, whom Oklahoma renewed only in a panic from losing Durant.

All in all, Antetokounmpo did great humanly but naively economically three years ago: Giannis has already lost $33 million by waiving his maximum wage and has also pushed back his possible free agency entry from 2020 to 2021.

That's why next year he will be so low in the rankings again. But then - hello to the biggest contract in the history of the NBA.

There are now only 32 people in the NBA with maximum contracts of (this number does not include DeRozan, whose salary was maximum only in the first two years of the contract, Horford and Love, who played at maximum levels a year ago, Vucevic, and Millsap and Middleton from the next group).

At the same time, almost everyone has different salaries.

How did it happen?

To answer this question, needs to understand how maximum contracts are formed .

Maximum contracts come in three levels depending on the player's experience:

• up to 6 league seasons - 25% of ceiling;
• 7-9 seasons - 30%;
• and more 10 - 35%

A player can jump up one category by becoming MVP, NBA Defensive Player of the Year or making the All-Star Team of the Season. At the same time, all these 25, 30 and 35% form only the salary in the first season. For example, now 25% of the ceiling is the salary of Russell, Porzingis, Booker, Townes. The first two signed a contract this summer, and the last two lasted a year ago, just their agreements implied entry into force in 2019-m.

And then everything changes: Russell, who signed a contract with a new team, Golden State after Brooklyn, will have an annual increase of 5%. Towns, who lasted with Minnesota, has 8%. And next year their salaries will be different.

Other players signed maximum wages in other years when there was a different salary cap. Anthony Davis received 25% of the ceiling in 2016 (he could have received 30%, but he got injured in the key season 15/16 and did not make the team of the season). Then, when he moved to the Lakers, he voluntarily forfeited a trading bonus so the Los Angelesers could sign a third star this summer.

Voiceover: They couldn't.

So it turned out that Davis and three other maximum speeds in 2016 are not included in the top 30, since they are slightly behind the maximum contracts concluded later, in 2017-2019 - the growth rate of the ceiling and, consequently, the new maximum speeds were higher than the increase in their contracts .

Six people signed a new contract this year with a starting salary of 30% of the ceiling. And they are all different:

The strangest one is with Kyrie Irving: 1 million allocated to 8 bonuses, for which he needs to play in 70 games, hit 88.5% of free throws in a season, lose the ball no more than 2.4 times per game and so on. He did not achieve all this a year ago, and bonuses are not yet taken into account in his salary.

Tobias Harris will receive the maximum in the first year of his contract only, and will receive a total of 10 million less in the remaining seasons.

Clay Thompson signed up for 5 years.

Kemba Walker and Jimmy Butler - for 4 years, the only difference is a possible trading bonus in Kemba's contract.

Kawhi signed up for 3. And the third year is a player option, so he should be a free agent again in 2021.

Yes, it's strange to see Kawhi Leonard outside the top 10 - but he chose this path himself (as the last NBA finals showed - he did the right thing). If the forward did not change teams, but remained in San Antonio, then this season his salary would be the same as that of Harden or Durant. But he has a different financial mechanism turned on: better conditions for winning the championship + a large market for new advertising contracts = the opportunity to get much more than the extra 5-6 million a year in the club salary.

Did you really think there was no calculator built into Kawhi's operating system?

P.S. Interestingly, in the top 20 - only Americans, this has not happened since the implementation of the salary cap in 1984! A new generation of super-foreigners, constrained by the financial rules of the NBA, has not yet reached the old American star guard.

King James always wants to be at the top of the list. But he was the most expensive NBA player only once : in the 2016/17 season. Before that, the Miami discount to team up with Wade and Bosch, the move back to Cleveland on a one-year contract, the technical impossibility of reaching Kobe's maximum salary. And then Curry, who has been playing in one club all his career, took the lead - after all, the NBA salary rules reward those stars who do not change clubs: they get a slightly higher maximum salary, a little longer, a little earlier.

But LeBron was always pissed off about the concept of a maximum salary. Why should workers be capped by some sort of salary cap? Why can't he earn in the NBA as much as she earns on him? According to various statistical metrics, the benefit of LeBron in his peak years should have been paid by a contract of 70-80 million a year 2003, with a completely different salary cap.

Even now, LeBron James's salary would be much more than 37.4 million if there were no artificial restrictions in the NBA. Reference point? Let's take Cristiano Ronaldo. Similar age, status, achievements, popularity, the situation with the transition to another club, even advertising contracts they have about the same level of income. Ronaldo earns about 64 million a year from Juventus before taxes; LeBron, it turns out, almost half as much.

Nevertheless, LeBron will still be the first - in terms of total career earnings . In the upcoming season, he (307 million) will overtake Shaquille (286 million) and will be second only to Kobe Bryant (323 million) and Kevin Garnett (334 million), whom he will overtake in 2021. LeBron will earn almost $400 million in the NBA by the end of his career - and even more from advertising contracts. The dream of becoming a billionaire is getting closer.

Fans often demand strict logic in issuing maximum contracts. That they should only be given to MVPs or champions, that clubs shouldn't give big contracts to non-All-Star players, that only five/two/ten people/one LeBron/all 510 NBA players are eligible for the top salary.

Actually there is no logic.

The maximum contract, even the largest possible one (35% of the ceiling), can be obtained for real services to the club, like Harden - and still there will be people who consider his salary too high.

You can - for previous achievements. Kevin Durant will make over $38 million in a season without a game for Brooklyn due to a Achilles tear, but the Nets believe he can return to his former superstar level and add championship experience to the team.

Or you can - for vague promises to become a top player in the NBA, as was the case with John Wall. He sparkled in the second half of the 2016/17 season and made it to the NBA's third All-Star Five, which qualified him for a Supermax contract extension. And "Washington" then gave him this 170 million extension for 4 years, which is effective now.

Since signing, Wall has never played more than 50% of his season and, like Durant, will miss the 2019 season/20 whole. But in 2017, he was a rising star, soon to be the best defenseman in the conference, and was priced into a super max contract...

Or just the Washingtons. A team that hasn't played in an Eastern final for 40 years.

Westbrook and Paul are united not only by the fact that they were traded for each other in July, but also that since 2018 they have an identical salary. They were extended through different mechanisms, but came to the same numbers (although Westbrook has a contract for a year longer).

Why are their salaries higher than the Durant-Harden Wall trio? Again, remember that the maximum salary depends on the ceiling, which grows unevenly . The annual salary increase is 8%, while the salary cap has increased by only 7.14% in the last year.

Contracts in the NBA, as already mentioned, are not reviewed - neither as a result of negotiations between the parties, nor by any automatic rules, so in a year Westbrook and Paul are entitled to 41 million, in two - 44 million each. And this figure will not change, even if all countries, including the United States, follow the example of China, turn their backs on the NBA, and the salary cap falls from 109million dollars to 109 million cents.

Next year, Durant, Harden, Wall, Paul and Westbrook will break the $40 million salary bar with their supermaxes. But they won't be the first.

Steph Curry won his first MVP and first title, being fourth in salary on his team, and 53rd in the league behind JaVale McGee, Larry Sanders and Andrea Bargnani.

Second MVP - fifth salary with the Warriors and 61st in the NBA, behind Amir Johnson, Demarre Carroll and Brandon Knight.

Second title - Curry is the 82nd highest paid in the NBA, and it's too long to list role players earning more. At the time, Curry's salary of $12 million was closer to the minimum (1.3 million) than the maximum (26.5 million).

Just before the third title, Stef was given the contract he deserved. The largest in history at that time - 201.2 million dollars.

The third season of this contract breaks the historic mark of $40 million. However, taking into account inflation, this is not a record, but only the third most expensive indicator.

Jordan has the first two, of course. His 30 million in 96/97 would be $49 million in today's dollars, and his 33 million in 97/98 would be $54 million.

* * *

You can complain that your parents forgot to send you to the basketball section or fed you little carrots, cottage cheese and oatmeal, in the comments.

Photo: globallookpress.com/TPG/ZUMAPRESS.com, /Naoki Morita/AFLO; Gettyimages.ru/Sean M. Haffey, /Ezra Shaw, /Al Bello

how do they stack up? - Financial Encyclopedia

The Women's National Basketball Association has steadily grown in popularity and revenue since the league's inception in 1996. Despite this, player salaries have not kept pace. For the 2019 season, the minimum wage for a player with two years of service was set at $42,728 per year, compared to the median income of $48,672 for a typical worker in the United States in end of 2019years23.

From 2020, players will earn more thanks to a new eight-year collective agreement signed in January 2020. The WNBA states that the top athletes can earn over $500,000 a year, while the average player can earn $130,000. The minimum wage for a player with two years of service has risen to $57,000 for the 2020 season and is scheduled to increase by 3% annually through 2027.

However, female professional basketball players still earn less than their male counterparts, with the minimum wage set at $815,615 per year under the current NBA players' collective bargaining agreement.

Key Findings

• The minimum wage for a WNBA player with two years of service will increase from $42,728 per year to $57,000 starting in 2020.
• Major players will go from earning $117,500 in 2019 to $215,000 in 2020.2
• WNBA players can now earn 50% of the league's revenue if they meet revenue targets.

New Deal for WNBA Players

A new collective bargaining agreement reached in January 2020 offers WNBA players significant salary improvements and other benefits. An athlete designated as a "Main Player" will earn $215,000 in the 2020 season, increasing by 3% annually until 2027. Under the old contract, the main player earned $117,500 in 2019year and was expected to earn $119,500 in 20202.

Teams can also offer players more opportunities to stay home (and stay fresh) during the off-season, when athletes typically increase their income by playing in overseas leagues. Teams can now pay up to $100,000 to talent to stay home and work out. marketing and advertising activities. In 2023, this amount will increase to $150,000. Under the old contract, teams could pay no more than $50,000 per vacation.

The league itself will spend at least $1 million per year on marketing and promotional activities, up to a maximum of $250,000 per player.

Players also have more opportunities to participate in the league's success. Under the old contract, players earned between 15% and 20% of ticket revenue after reaching goals. The new contract provides for a 50% share of the league's revenue in the 2021 season, subject to revenue targets being met.

WNBA salary vs NBA salary

Although WNBA players earn more on their new contract, annual compensation pales in comparison to their counterparts in the National Basketball Association, where top players are capped at $30 million per season.

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