Because the WNBA’s collective bargaining settlement negotiations drag on, the gamers’ union finds itself at a crossroads. The league’s proposal, which incorporates elevating minimal salaries to greater than $220,000 and permitting prime earners to achieve as much as $1.1 million by way of base pay and income sharing, has been met with skepticism from the WNBPA, who argue it falls in need of addressing core calls for for truthful compensation and long-term safety.
Let’s minimize by way of the noise. This isn’t nearly incremental features; it’s time for the WNBA to demand nothing lower than full wage parity with the NBA. Something in need of matching the boys’s league dollar-for-dollar dangers perpetuating a system that undervalues ladies’s contributions to basketball. Gamers ought to maintain agency for true fairness.
Within the NBA’s 2025-2026 season, the highest-paid participant, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, instructions a staggering $59,606,817. This determine displays the worth prime expertise brings to the game by way of talent, marketability and world attraction.
WNBA stars like A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart and Caitlin Clark possess comparable star energy in their very own proper, driving unprecedented viewership and merchandise gross sales. Settling for something lower than this $59.6 million ceiling would ship a message that girls’s excellence is one way or the other secondary. The WNBPA ought to insist on a supermax construction that mirrors the NBA’s, guaranteeing their elite athletes can earn at the very least this quantity. Fairness means equal recognition for equal impact.
Parity is about lifting all the league, not simply superstars. The typical NBA participant wage for 2025-2026 is $12,661,208, a benchmark accounting for the broad contributions of function gamers, veterans and rising abilities. Equally, the median wage, which higher represents the “typical” participant by mitigating the skew from outliers, is round $6,685,441. These numbers aren’t luxuries; they’re a results of a long time of negotiation and income development within the males’s recreation.
WNBA gamers, who endure the identical grueling schedules, bodily calls for and off-court commitments, deserve no much less. By demanding that the league’s common and median salaries align with these figures, the union would guarantee a extra equitable distribution of wealth, fostering roster depth and long-term participant retention.
Even on the entry degree, the disparity is evident. The NBA’s minimal wage for a rookie in 2025-2026 is $1,157,153, setting a ground that respects the baseline worth {of professional} expertise. The WNBA’s proposed bounce to $220,000 is a step ahead from the present $66,000, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a fraction of what NBA newcomers earn.
Insisting on at least this $1.16 million minimal would affirm that each participant, from draft picks to veterans, is valued equally throughout genders. This may be a elementary acknowledgment that girls’s basketball operates on the similar elite degree.
After all, critics will level out the elephant within the room: the WNBA hasn’t turned a revenue in its almost three a long time of existence, reportedly shedding $40 million in current seasons and counting on NBA subsidies to remain afloat. Solely a handful of groups have ever damaged even, and the league’s income, whereas rising to $200 million in 2024, pales compared to the NBA’s billions.
Right here’s the important thing: this struggle is about fairness, not short-term earnings. Ladies’s sports activities have lengthy been underinvested in, from advertising to broadcast offers, making a self-fulfilling prophecy of decrease revenues. Demanding NBA-level pay forces a reckoning, pushing homeowners and stakeholders to take a position extra aggressively in development. Earnings will observe when the dedication to equality is real.
To that finish, one daring advice: The WNBA ought to significantly take into account breaking away from the NBA’s umbrella. Whereas the partnership has offered stability, it might additionally cap the league’s independence and bargaining energy. By going solo, the WNBA may negotiate its personal media rights, sponsorships and expansions, proving it may possibly thrive with out paternalistic assist. This transfer would sign self-reliance and entice traders drawn to the league’s surging recognition.
If the league refuses to satisfy these calls for, gamers shouldn’t hesitate to lock out. A piece stoppage would spotlight the WNBA’s indispensable function in American sports activities tradition, exhibiting followers, broadcasters and sponsors simply how a lot the league is missed. Viewership data from stars like Clark and Reese show the demand is there. A lockout may impress public assist and power concessions.
The time for half-measures is over. WNBA gamers have constructed this league by way of sheer expertise and resilience. Demanding full wage fairness with the NBA isn’t radical; it’s rightful. Accept nothing much less, and watch ladies’s basketball soar to new heights.
Nafees Alam is a professor in social work at Boise (Idaho) State College/InsideSources
