NEW YORK — Paige Bueckers will receive roughly the same salary that Caitlin Clark got last year as the top pick in the WNBA draft as player salaries continue to be a topic of conversation.
As the presumptive No. 1 pick in Monday’s WNBA draft, Bueckers’ deal will be worth just more than $78,000 in base salary. Talks between the league and the players’ union are ongoing about a deal when the current collective bargaining agreement expires next season.
Players have indicated there could be a lockout if their salary demands aren’t meet. The spotlight on WNBA player salaries got brighter after Clark’s and Angel Reese’s much talked about rookie earnings last season.
WNBA Players Union vice president Napheesa Collier, who plays for the Minnesota Lynx, has said that “no one wants” a lockout but the players are “prepared for any possibility right now.”
“We get such a small percentage of revenue share right now that affects our salary,” she said last month on the “We Need to Talk” TV show. “We’re asking for a bigger cut of that, like more equitable to what the men’s revenue share is.”