December 2, 2025
After proposing a minimum salary starting at more than $220,000, the league increased the offer to $225,000 annually.
Just a day after the WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Association Players Association (WNBPA) extended the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) to continue talks on a new deal, the league offered to increase average and maximum player salaries.
According to USA Today Sports, the WNBA has proposed “a maximum $1 million guaranteed base salary with projected revenue sharing raising max players’ total earnings to more than $1.2 million in 2026.”
An anonymous source revealed the latest information to the outlet.
This development comes shortly after the extended CBA, which was scheduled to end Nov. 30 was extended again until Jan. 9, 2026, giving both sides more time to reach a mutual agreement.
The WNBA has never had a work stoppage.
With the latest proposal, the salary cap will also rise to $5 million per team per season, a significant increase from this past season’s $1.5 million cap. That number would reportedly increase over the life of the CBA, tied directly to annual revenue growth.
The WNBPA has been pushing for increased revenue sharing and a pay structure similar to the NBA’s. WNBA players receive 9.3% of their income from the league, while NBA players received 44.74% in 2025.
With the minimum salary being $66,079 last season, the supermax was worth $249,244. That meant that only five WNBA players made more than $225,000 last season: Kelsey Mitchell ($269,244), Arike Ogunbowale ($249,032), Jewell Loyd ($249,032), Kahleah Copper ($248,134), and Gabby Williams ($225,000).
Before the recent CBA was signed in 2020, the league and union had agreed to a 60-day extension in 2019, shortly before the previous CBA was set to expire on Oct. 31, 2019. They finally negotiated a new deal on Jan. 14, 2020, and made it official three days later on Jan. 17.
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