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In this article, Catie talks about the starting salary and pay grade differences between women's basketball players and men's basketball players, how percentages are split, and why this is socially impactful.
Salary differences between WNBA and NBA
Salary differences between WNBA and NBA
By: Catie Beardslee
By: Catie Beardslee
Decade by decade, women’s basketball has been weaving its way up the charts in the professional sports world, and it is hard to ignore. Attendance percentages have spiked, demographics have grown from primarily women to both women and men, new streaming platforms across the globe now feature women's basketball more regularly, and new teams are being introduced across the globe. This unfortunately does not mean more money for the players, unlike the league's male counterparts, the NBA. Let’s break down how these professional athletes get paid, the difference in starting salaries, and how this is impactful socially.
Player payment process
Player payment process
Photo Credits: Jacob Musselman, IndyStar
The difference between the WNBA and NBA is clear: more franchises and teams are equivalent to more attendance at games (primarily because of the duration the league has been established), and a larger fanbase. However, this creates a gender-based salary inequality since the NBA is more established than the WNBA.
Professional sports players are paid as follows: a CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement), league structure, media rights, and brand deals all contribute to the diverse pay between players. Playing time and being considered a ‘star player’ like LeBron James, Caitlin Clark, Steph Curry, and A’ja Wilson is also a factor. The league structure is the true meat and potatoes of the significant pay grade difference between how the women's players and men's players are paid, purely based on how long the NBA has been an established league.
League structure is the number of teams in a league and players on a team; the number of games played in a regular season, and the number of games broadcast in total across an entire season. The league structure is where the true difference lies, considering that the NBA was established in 1946, and the WNBA followed three decades later in 1996, corralling three more decades full of fans.
The 1800-game advantage that the NBA holds over the WNBA is far more significant when it comes to sports broadcasting and media deals than expected, considering the cash pool increases when a basketball game is featured through a streaming service like YouTube TV, Hulu, Sling, and Fubo.
More importantly, the CBA and league structure are not the only ways the players are paid. A significant amount of money comes from a percentage of the brand that the administration of the league chooses to share, and determines what percentage they decide to dedicate to players. Here is where the ‘unfairness’ comes into play.
Equal Percentage
Equal Percentage
In the NBA, players get a 50% share of all of the ‘player-related revenue’ that comes into the league, according to Jacob Mox of IX Basketball. The WNBA, on the other hand, receives only 9.3% of the league's revenue, which comes from merchandise, TV deals, and other sources.
Players from both the WNBA and NBA, fans, and coaches have expressed severe disapproval of the unfairness of the percentage share in comparison to the NBA. Not only is this hurtful to the player and their bank account, but it also undermines the talent and skill of the women's league. Fans and athletes are left to question whether or not this is a gender-role issue or due to a lack of revenue flow for the league. The latter is untrue, considering the league is reaching new heights in attendance and merchandise sales since 2020.
The players are not staying silent about this and have been aware of this issue since the league was established. In 2019, Kelsey Plum explained on the ‘All The Smoke’ podcast what the players really want from the league: “We’re just asking for the same percentage of revenue, if not, a similar percentage of revenue, and right now that’s not the case. Not only was that the case in 2019 when Plum featured on the podcast when the league had 12 teams, but it is still the same percentage seven years later, as the league has expanded into 14 teams.
Photo Credit: All The Smoke- Youtube
pay us what you owe us all star 2025
pay us what you owe us all star 2025
Photo Credits: Steph Chambers- Getty Images
More recently, players have taken matters into their own hands to express further outrage over the unfairness this July. The All-Star Game is a highly anticipated event for both players and fans. It is an opportunity for players to take a ‘break’ during the regular season to show off their skills and bond with players across the league (in shorter terms, just a fun game).
Star players are voted on by the fans, like rookie Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese, and the 2025 captains were Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier. This year, the players took this game as an opportunity to come together as one across the league to express their disapproval silently, simply by wearing a T-shirt. The idea of the T-shirt created by Team Collier coined the phrase ‘Pay Us What You Owe Us,’ a subtle yet stern phrase intentionally worn in front of all the coaches, fans, players, and administration in hopes of a change.
The intention is explained best by Kelsey Plum on ESPN, “The T-shirt was just a united front… a powerful moment to get the point across, explaining further that the fans created a ‘Pay them!’ chant. "We didn't, at least as players, we didn't know that was going to happen. So it was a genuine surprise. Those chants tonight, those signs, it just shows that as players, we are united, but the fans are united in believing what we're seeking." After the All-Star games, many of the players believe that wearing the warm-up shirts was effective because it made the fans aware of the issues circulating in the league.
Cathy Engelbert Controversy
Cathy Engelbert Controversy
At the end of the regular season, select players are allowed to participate in an end-of-season press conference. This year, to put it simply, was a wildfire of controversy and criticism directed at the league's leaders and administration. Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier began the conference with a statement criticizing the “lack of accountability from the league office,” going even further by saying, “the only thing that remains consistent is the lack of accountability from the league office.” A nod to the constant lay-offs of head and assistant coaches, poor officiating, and player trades and transfers. To make matters more intense, Collier revealed a private conversation she had with the commissioner of the WNBA, Cathy Englebert, at an Unrivaled event.
It started with an innocent question, a purely curious Collier, inquiring about how Engelbert planned to solve the officiating issues that had been avidly occurring during the 2025 season. Engelbert responded with “Well, only the losers complain about the refs,” an insensitive, distasteful, and controversial comment to come from an administrator and commissioner at that. The conversation quickly took a turn from officiating to unfair pay, with Englebert stating, “Caitlin (Clark) should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court because without the platform that the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything” in reference to her Gatorade and Nike deals. This comment by Engelbert reflects that she is not only aware of the unfair percentage she offers her league, but she also believes that she is responsible for the brand and media deals the individual players get, which could not be further from the truth, considering the players' skill and performance on the courts draw in deals.
Caitlin responded later, not to Engelbert's statements but to Collier, rather conservatively and respectfully, saying she delivered ‘valid points’ and she has respect for Collier. Clark was not the only victim of Englebert's harsh opinions. She made a blanket statement saying, “Players should be on their knees thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal that I got them.” This sparked controversy and outrage across the league from current players, retired players, college players, the NBA, administrators, and even coaches.
In the Indiana Fever post-season conference, Sophie Cunningham said that NBA players have been reaching out in response to poor leadership and saying that “The leaders might be good business people but don’t know (anything) about basketball.” The same day the players conducted the end of season press conferences, Engelbert at the beginning of the WNBA finals, quietly addressed the statements Collier claimed she had said, repeating “I have the utmost respect for Collier and every player, they are the center of everything we do”, changes need to be made, and “we will work to do better.” With no real resolution, players and fans to this day remain baffled that the WNBA continues the unfair rhetoric from the leadership at the WNBA office.
NBA or WNBA fan, there is no question that these women are putting their lives on display every day to play the sport that they love. Regardless of gender, equal pay for the WNBA should be a no-brainer, considering they have jumped through a multitude of sports to come to the level they are at.
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