Paige Bueckers demanded WNBA salaries grow alongside the league: “Just the rightful pay”

30 years after its founding in 1996 and after years of protesting, the WNBA has secured a revenue-tied, high-earning salary for its players. The league’s financial landscape has been completely transformed from the previous season.

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From $1.5 million in 2025, the team’s salary cap has skyrocketed to a whopping $7 million in 2026. Under the old revenue targets, players received around 9 percent of gross revenue, whereas now it is 20 percent. As a result, for the first time in history, salaries of superstar players have finally crossed the $1 million threshold.

Household names like A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Mitchell, and Napheesa Collier each signed $1.4 million supermax contracts, positioning themselves as the top three highest earners in the W. But the greatest statistic comes from the average and minimum pay. Specifically, the average player salary jumped from $120,000 to $600,000, while rookie and veteran minimums grew from $66,079 to $300,000.

Still, this kind of improvement didn’t come overnight. It took years of pain, frustration, and player protest for the league to finally reverse its decision. However, the league couldn’t do it without any leverage or profit, which was nonexistent. That is, until the new wave of stars came along.

Paige and the crew let their game do the talking

With a new generation of young stars ready to take over the league, including Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers, the WNBA’s revenue and viewership started to grow exponentially. Not only were they catching the eyes of many fans for their talent and dominance, but they were also the first in line to fight for their rights.

“I mean, just the rightful pay. I think that’s what everybody’s working for,” said Paige last summer. “There’s a lot of things that go into the CBA, which is what I’m learning, meeting with the Players Union, and meeting those people who fight and go to war for us.”

The W’s young stars saw a massive boom in popularity as they shattered attendance and broadcast records throughout the 2025 season.

“How much we invest, and how much we put into this WNBA season. It really has grown and blown up, and expanded, and the respect, attention, accessibility. You see everything growing, so I feel like the pay should grow with those numbers that have been proven, that it’s only going to increase.”

After realizing player popularity and other metrics had outgrown its contract structures, the league could no longer justify its low pay, and the WNPBA opted out early of its 2020 CBA.

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Following a year-and-a-half of strict negotiations, a new CBA was reached in March of this year, as the new cultural momentum earned the W a new national TV deal worth $3.1 billion.

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The W will keep on expanding

However, under the new media rights deal, the league has to keep expanding, meaning more games will be played, thus tying to more ticket revenue, local broadcast opportunities, and sponsors to keep paying their players.

While the current 2026 season remains at 44, the new CBA cleared the way for a new, 50-game slate that is set to become the norm for the 2027 and 2028 seasons. Following 2027 and 2028, the schedule will scale up even more, maxing out at 52 games per year from 2029 to 2032.

Still, that thought doesn’t seem to sit right with the players.

“I saw two talk about player safety and taking care of the players, and how they had nine games in 18 days. The WNBA schedule is insane, and no way am I trying to sound like I’m complaining here about anything. I’m super blessed to be in this league and have nine games in 18 days. It’s an amazing experience, don’t get me wrong, but you want the best product,” Paige said.

However, without pain, there is no gain. If players want the league to expand and receive higher salaries, the WNBA cannot give out higher salaries without an increase in overall future revenue, and that implies more games.

Before 2025, the WNBA didn’t reach profitability for a single year. Now, with the new CBA, whether they like it or not, they have made themselves business partners with the owners, who are keen on scaling the financial blueprint as much as possible. A way to do this is to create the best possible product, as Paige says, which means playing more games and ultimately earning the athletes more money.

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This story was originally published September 20, 2026 at 10:01 AM.