Much has been made of the salary disparity between the WNBA and NBA in the days following the Caitlin Clark topping the 2024 WNBA Draft board.
Debates have raged for the past week comparing 2024 WNBA No. 1 draft pick Caitlin Clark’s first-year salary of $76,535 compared to the 2023 NBA No. 1 draft pick Victor Wembanyama’s initial salary of $12.16 million.
The WNBA has a long ways to go to secure the kind of financial resources that will bring league player salaries into the same realm of the universe. It is hoped that Clark can lead a surge in popularity for the women’s professional game like she did for women’s collegiate competition.
It’s no secret that for Caitlin Clark to come anywhere near the payday that her male counterparts make, she will rely heavily on endorsement deals — and she’s off to a good start.
Caitlin Clark Closing in on Unprecedented Deal
Caitlin Clark, the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer, already partnered with 11 companies on Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals during her time with the Iowa Hawkeyes. It is estimated that she made $3.1 million from NIL income, the fourth-most of any college athlete to date. NIL has only been available to college athletes since mid-2021.
However, Nike is reportedly about to more than triple that amount with one endorsement deal. According to multiple sources, Caitlin Clark and the Oregon shoe company that Michael Jordan made famous are closing in on a “eight-figure” endorsement contract.
It’s a deal that will dwarf her current league-mandated contract with the Indiana Fever of $338,056 over the next four years.
Caitlin Clark Poised to Make Bank in Pro Career
It’s still a few weeks away from her professional debut, but Caitlin Clark has already become the rarest of athletes — one that transcends the sport and emerges as a pop culture icon. She has already made more from NIL than most WNBA players will make in their entire careers before her first pro tip-off.
Currently, the WNBA television deal is worth $65 million. The NBA‘s is valued at $2.8 billion. As the on-court product continues to improve and more fans are exposed are exposed to women’s professional basketball, television deals, salaries and endorsement opportunities should naturally progress higher in the coming years.
However, for many WNBA players — including some of the league’s biggest stars to-date — have had to supplement their lower wages earned stateside by playing internationally during the WNBA offseason.
Perhaps Someday, WNBA Players Won’t Have to Head to Europe in Search of Higher Paychecks
The most famous example of a WNBA star earning bigger bucks overseas ended with international drama. Phoenix Mercury forward Britney Griner was one of several WNBA stars that was earning approximately $1 million or more playing in Russia, compared to her average annual salary of $221,515 with the Mercury.
Griner played for UMMC Ekaterinburg for several years up until her 2022 arrest after airport customs agents said they found cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. She received a nine-year prison sentence and was detained 294 days until a prisoner swap freed her in 2023. She told Just Women’s Sports website last year regarding the inclination for WNBA players to compete overseas:
“The whole reason a lot of us go [overseas] is the pay game. A lot of us go over there to make an income to support our families, to support ourselves. So I don’t knock any player that wants to go overseas.”
The hope for many is that with Caitlin Clark leading the influx of high-caliber talent entering the WNBA is that one day soon, the league’s stars won’t have to look elsewhere for a bigger paycheck.
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Tom Carothers is a sportswriter with more than 20 years of experience covering sports at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. Still longing for the return of his Minnesota North Stars, he has a high pain tolerance as a big fan of the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Browns, and Tottenham Hotspur.
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