Highest Paid WNBA Players: The $1.4m Ceiling
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Three players are on the WNBA’s 2026 maximum salary of $1.4 million: Napheesa Collier (Minnesota), Kelsey Mitchell (Indiana) and A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas).
The franchises they play for are worth rather more: CNBC valued the Golden State Valkyries at $1 billion in 2026 — see our guide to who owns the WNBA.
You will also see Wilson listed alone at the top on $1.67 million. Both figures are correct, and the arithmetic explains why.
| 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Maximum salary | $1.4m |
| Minimum salary | $270,000 |
| Team salary cap | $7m |
| Average salary (projected) | ~$600,000 |
Resolving the $1.4m / $1.67m conflict
Wilson signed a three-year, $5 million deal with the Las Vegas Aces running to 2028, reported as:
- 2026: $1.4 million
- 2027: $1.65 million
- 2028: $1.95 million
Those three figures sum to exactly $5 million, and $5 million over three years averages $1.667 million.
So $1.4 million is Wilson’s 2026 salary and $1.67 million is the annual average of her contract. Publications quoting the higher number are describing the deal; publications quoting the lower one are describing this season. Neither is wrong, and almost none of them say which they mean.
The general rule, which applies across every salary list in sport: a contract average and a season salary are different measurements. Back-loaded deals like Wilson’s — rising each year — make the gap between them large.
The new CBA changed the scale
The 2026 numbers follow a new collective bargaining agreement between the league and the WNBA Players Association, and the shift is substantial rather than incremental.
The team cap rose to $7 million, the minimum salary to $270,000, and the average is projected at roughly $600,000. That average is the figure worth holding onto: it describes what a typical WNBA player earns, which no list of the top three ever does.
A remarkably flat pay scale
The range runs from $270,000 to $1.4 million — a ratio of about five to one between the lowest and highest paid players in the league.
That is unusually narrow for professional sport. Hard maximums compress the top of the scale, which is precisely why three players sit level at $1.4 million instead of one standing clear. In leagues without a maximum, the best-paid player typically earns many multiples of the minimum.
For context, the highest-paid woman in sport — the tennis player Coco Gauff, on an estimated $33 million — earns roughly 24 times the WNBA maximum, almost all of it from endorsements rather than competition. See our guide to the highest paid female athletes.
It also means the interesting question in the WNBA is not who tops the list — the answer is “several people, at the same number” — but where the floor sits. A $270,000 minimum is the more informative statistic.
Why comparisons with other sports mislead
Absolute salary comparisons between leagues tell you about revenue, not about how well players are paid relative to what they generate.
| Sport | Structure |
|---|---|
| WNBA | Hard maximum, $1.4m in 2026 |
| Formula 1 | No prize money to drivers at all; salary from the team |
| Golf, tennis | Competitor receives the purse directly |
| Champions League | €2.437bn to clubs, none direct to players |
Formula 1 is the sharpest contrast: its roughly $1.25 billion prize pool is paid entirely to constructors, and drivers receive none of it — their income is salary and bonuses negotiated with the team, as our guide to F1 prize money sets out. Golfers at the Masters are paid the purse directly, as covered in Masters prize money.
The WNBA sits closer to the F1 model than the golf one: pay is a negotiated share of league revenue, capped by agreement, not a prize won on the day.
What this page does not cover
Endorsement income. Several WNBA players earn more from commercial deals than from their league salary, and those contracts are private and not comparable between players. Any figure combining salary and endorsements is an estimate, and we have not published one.
Overseas contracts. Historically a significant part of many players’ income, which is part of why the CBA increases matter beyond the headline numbers.
For the money on the ownership side of sport, see our guides to the richest NFL owners and Premier League owners, or the coaching side in highest paid football managers.
How we checked these numbers
The 2026 maximum of $1.4 million, the three players sharing it, the $270,000 minimum, the $7 million team cap and the ~$600,000 projected average are from Yahoo Sports’ post-CBA salary coverage, Sports Illustrated’s salary tracking and DIRECTV Insider’s 2026 breakdown. Wilson’s three-year, $5 million contract and its year-by-year values come from the same reporting.
The reconciliation of the $1.4m and $1.67m figures is our own arithmetic on those reported contract values, which sum to exactly $5 million. Salary figures in any league are reported rather than disclosed, and cap accounting varies, so treat individual numbers as well-sourced rather than audited.
Review class: seasonal. Salaries are set annually and this scale rises each year under the current agreement — recheck each season, and on any CBA amendment.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the highest paid WNBA player in 2026?+
Three players share the top of the scale on the 2026 maximum salary of $1.4 million: Napheesa Collier of Minnesota, Kelsey Mitchell of Indiana and A'ja Wilson of Las Vegas. Wilson is sometimes listed alone at a higher figure, which is the average of her multi-year contract rather than her salary this season.
Why is A'ja Wilson reported at $1.67 million?+
Because that is the annual average of her three-year, $5 million contract with the Las Vegas Aces, not her 2026 pay. The deal is reported as $1.4 million in 2026, $1.65 million in 2027 and $1.95 million in 2028 — which sums to exactly $5 million and averages $1.67 million a year.
What is the WNBA maximum salary?+
$1.4 million for the 2026 season under the new collective bargaining agreement. That is the top of the standard scale, and it is why three players sit level at the maximum rather than one player standing clear at the top.
What is the WNBA minimum salary?+
$270,000 for 2026 under the new CBA. The salary range therefore runs from $270,000 to $1.4 million, a ratio of roughly five to one between the lowest and highest paid players — far narrower than in most professional sports.
What is the WNBA salary cap?+
$7 million per team for 2026, following the new collective bargaining agreement between the league and the WNBA Players Association. The average player salary is projected at approximately $600,000, which is a transformation from the scale of previous seasons.
Do WNBA players earn more outside the league?+
Historically many did, through overseas contracts and endorsements, which is why the new CBA's increases matter beyond the headline numbers. This page covers league salaries only — endorsement income is negotiated privately and is not comparable between players.
Why does the WNBA pay less than the NBA?+
Because the two leagues generate very different revenue, and player pay in both is set as a negotiated share of it. Comparing the absolute figures says more about broadcast and commercial income than about the collective agreements themselves.
Sources
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