Brian Ethridge said:
BobWillis said:
ALL of these ladies should be focused on landing a college degree that opens doors to where they want to go in post-playing life. No one in a WNBA career makes retirement-level money.
Wrong. Plenty do, just not NBA or NFL or MLB or NHL money.
A player making 250K a year in US plus endorsements can retire after a 6-8 year career. Add in the more lucrative overseas deals and they could after 4-5 years. Same as an NFL 3rd-6th round pick.
Inaccurate. NO rookie joins the league at $250K a year.
Per the player's current CBA:
The WNBA player "Supermax" contract is currently only $221K / yr.
The non-super max contract is $190K / yr.
Supermax deals are
only available to:
1. Rookie contract extensions after 4 years playing under the original rookie contract, and
2. Other players with at least 5 years of service.
Only about fifteen (15) out of 144 players in the WNBA (10%) had salaries around or above $200K in 2021, and that number will remain about the same in 2022.
The
BEST rookie contract available last year (i.e. the #1 draft pick) was about $320K over 4 years ($80K avg annually). The typical rookie deal averages $60K / yr. The average WNBA salary, mathematically speaking, is $120K...heavily weighted by the 10% making $200K+. Most players are paid $70K a year or less.
There are team and player performances bonuses, but they max out at $11K. And you have to either win the championship or earn MVP awards to have a shot close to a $11K-$20K bonus.
External endorsements, if possible, and overseas play is where WNBA players can make a retirement bank in their playing days. 90%+ of the players in the WNBA either do not stay in the league for 6 years or ever earn enough money to retire on. Reality.
