New WNBA CBA Will See Caitlin Clark’s Salary Jump From $80K to $1.3 Million in 2027

Caitlin Clark and all WNBA players will see a significant jump in their salaries starting from the 2026 season.

New WNBA CBA Will See Caitlin Clark’s Salary Jump From $80K to $1.3 Million in 2027

Caitlin Clark will earn a $1.3 million salary in 2027 (Image via FirstSportz)

In Short
  • Caitlin Clark's salary will increase from $80,000 to $530,000 in 2026, with a potential max of $1.3 million in 2027.
  • The new Collective Bargaining Agreement aims to significantly raise salaries for WNBA players, allowing many to become millionaires.
  • The Indiana Fever faces challenges in roster management due to high salaries for Clark and teammates, impacting their salary cap.

Caitlin Clark and her fellow WNBA peers are about to rake in a massive pay rise after the players’ union agreed to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the league and team owners.

After negotiating over 100 hours at The Langham hotel in Manhattan, New York, the union executives and the league’s top brass came to an agreement that will transform women’s basketball.

Reporters who were camped outside revealed that both sides were positive from the start of negotiations, and they were also perfectly aware that a delay could hamper the 2026 season schedule.

One of them, ESPN’s Alexa Philippou, gathered all the details of this new landmark CBA, where she figured out that the players currently on a rookie scale contract would get a proportionate increase in their salary starting from this season.

For example, 2024 Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark — who made $78,066 in 2025 — is poised to see her salary jump to $530,000 in 2026, a source said. She could earn the projected max of $1.3 million in 2027 as a previous All-WNBA player.

Alexa Philippou revealed

This means that the Iowa native, who has a rookie contract that paid her approximately $80K, including bonuses in 2025, will earn $530,000 in 2026. Then, she will be eligible to earn a max contract in 2027 in the $1.3 million range.

That is a near seven-fold increase in one year alone, and a 16-fold jump next year, all because Caitlin Clark has won the Rookie of the Year honors, along with an All-WNBA 1st team selection in her rookie campaign.

Caitlin Clark’s Fever will have a task on its hands with free agency

If not for those accolades making her eligible for a max contract, Caitlin Clark would have still earned as per the new rookie scale starting at $500,000, which, again, is a significant jump.

Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark, and Kelsey Mitchell will earn approx. $2.5 million next season
Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark, and Kelsey Mitchell will earn approx. $2.5 million next season (Image via Chris/X)

Last year’s top-earners, for instance, Clark’s Indiana Fever teammate, Kelsey Mitchell, earned less than that. Now, the latter will be eligible for the new Super Max, which is set at $1.4 million.

The problem for the Fever is that with Mitchell earning $1.4 million, Caitlin Clark earning $530,000, and Aliyah Boston, who also earned an All-WNBA Second-Team selection last year, they will take up a significant portion of the new $7 million cap.

With approximately 35% of the cap allotted for three players, the franchise’s front office will be clamoring to fill the nine remaining spots. The league has allowed 12 roster spots, along with two developmental spots for young players.

Even though the cap does not cover the developmental players, it will be quite the flurry to get the rest of the roster filled with players with whom Caitlin Clark and the other two core players have experience playing.

The superstar point guard would want her favorite teammates, such as Sophie Cunningham and Lexie Hull, to return. But the Fever could find it difficult to pay everyone what they want.

Dawn Staley labels the new CBA as historic

Caitlin Clark might have earned in eight figures last calendar year, but most of her WNBA peers do not have the luxury of signing such high-paying endorsement deals.

However, with this new CBA, most of them will be on a path to become millionaires, something that the likes of Dawn Staley could never do when she was playing in the inaugural years of the WNBA.

What’s happening is incredibly historic… People have fought. When you enter into the league, you’re gonna make probably 100 times, 75 times more than someone that was 30 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago.

Dawn Staley told her players

The South Carolina head coach reiterated to her players sitting beside her at the March Madness press conference that some of them are going in at a lucrative time.

Back when she played, the salaries were negligible. Now, women’s basketball players have a chance to create generational wealth for themselves.

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