WNBA set its average salary for the 2021 season at around $130,000 which is glaringly lower than the NBA pay, yet it is a raise than the conditions before. So let’s see the evolution of the WNBA pay in 2022
Diana Taurasi, and Breanna Stewart are some of the top paid players of the WNBA sourcing an average earning of over $200,000. The NBA counterparts are able to earn $45 million, as is the case for Stephen Curry, the highest-paid NBA player today. In 2016 Taurasi did earn around a million USDs playing offseason in Russia. Even in 2019, the average pay of an NBA player was $74,349, compared to which the $120,648 is quite a raise. However, this pay disparity between male and female players remains a consistent issue not just with basketball or even just in the United States, but for women athletes all around the world.
Although the average WNBA salary can be considered a decent wage for a general US resident, it is definitely not enough for nationally and internationally recognized star athletes.
In 2022, seven players are being paid an average annual salary of $228,000. These include Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, Jewell Loyd, Brittney Griner, Elena Delle Donne, Skylar Diggins-Smith and DeWanna Bonner.
The maximum pay at the Women’s National Basketball Association doesn’t even match up with the minimum pay of an NBA player which is over $900,000.
The Women’s Basketball Association had its first season in 1997 after being set up in 1996 by David Stern. This is one of the oldest women athlete associations in the United States. There are twelve teams in total. The fight for higher pay has remained a constant struggle for the players since then, which hasn’t ended yet.
Being a WNBA player is not an easy job and is quite an elite position to be able to get in. There’s extremely tough competition, thus it is natural to say the players aren’t compensated at par with the value they offer.w
However, there is growth and constant attempts at change are made. The highest salary in the 2000s was earned by Cynthia Cooper which was $75,798. While the NBA players continued to gather around $40 million, the WNBA players struggled to earn a salary of $25,000 an entire season.
Players have been protesting and refusing to sign off with the WNBA teams and rightfully so. Being Olympic champions and having other such high achievements, there were hardly any rights protecting the WNBA player pay in the 2000s. It is indeed better now and there have been improved terms and conditions not only in salaries but holidays, taxes and more.
The new Collective Bargaining Agreement passed in 2020 gets the WNBA players a 53% increase in total compensation, paid maternity leave, and fertility benefits. Newer terms that run till 2027 have allowed WNBA players to source higher earnings than ever before.
The organization still has long strides to make to pay the players as deserved, but it is also at the most optimum state it has been. So we can only hope for it to be better and for the pay gap to minimize further in future.
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