🔴Here’s how much Caitlin Clark and the other top picks in the historic 2024 WNBA Draft will make 🔴
0Here’s how much Caitlin Clark and the other top picks in the historic 2024 WNBA Draft will make as pros
It’s not hyperbole to say the 2024 WNBA Draft class may be the best and deepest in the league’s history.
With newcomers including Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, LSU’s Angel Reese, Stanford’s Cameron Brink, South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso and UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards, the WNBA teams picking near the top of the draft will be adding historic talent from the exceedingly popular women’s college basketball.
Despite the growth of women’s college basketball and the WNBA in recent years, the salaries for top picks are still much lower than in the NBA. Here are the salaries of the top picks in the upcoming WNBA Draft:
The spot where a player is drafted determines how much money she will earn on her rookie contract. This is due to the WNBA’s rookie wage scale, which assigns dollar amounts to specific draft slots. The higher a player is drafted, the more lucrative her overall contract is.
The top four picks in the WNBA Draft will each make a base salary of $76,535, which will grow slightly in year two, and again in year three. The remaining players selected in the top 10 will each make north of $70,000 in their first season in the WNBA. Each player drafted in the first round has a fourth-year team option, meaning it’s up to the franchise that drafted them whether or not the contract will be given for that season.
Unlike in the NBA, WNBA contracts are not fully guaranteed (with some exceptions). In comparison, the top pick in the NBA makes $10.1 million in his rookie season and has $20.7 million in total guaranteed money.
Some of the top WNBA players who are no longer subject to rookie-scale contracts make much more. Arike Ogunbowale, Kahleah Cooper and Jewell Loyd are the highest earners in the WNBA, with each making $241,984 this year; the average salary in the WNBA was $147,745 in 2023.
Clark, who is widely expected to be drafted first overall by the Indiana Fever, would make $76,535 next season. However, she will be able to out-earn her five-figure WNBA starting salary with her off-court business endeavors