After weeks and weeks of negotiations, a breakthrough has come in the WNBA’s negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement.
On Tuesday night, the league and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) reached a verbal agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement, just over 50 days before the league’s 30th season.
These numbers reflect the growing interest in the sport and represent a significant increase over the numbers during the 2025 WNBA season. Last year the leagues the minimum wage was $66,079with the average player salary around $102,000.
Supermax contracts were set at $249,244 and the salary cap was set at $1,507,100, with the cap increasing at a fixed rate of 3% each year under the agreement. Additionally, the previous collective bargaining agreement included a separate revenue-sharing provision that provided direct payments to players if the WNBA met certain revenue goals, but these were largely suspended in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Given the supermax value under the current CBA, Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell had the highest base salary last season, maxing out at $249,244 under Spotrac. Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young was playing on the highest two-year contract, a $504,900 contract that averages $252,450 per year.
WNBPA officials praised the agreement and the “collective voice” and “power” of the players union.
“I think this can be summed up in two words: player empowerment… players coming to the table and speaking up and being reminded of their collective voice and what it means to be in a union and the power of this union,” said WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson. “They never forgot it and have taken it, as always, to the next level.”
