{"id":584264,"date":"2026-04-05T18:01:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T18:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/584264\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T18:01:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T18:01:15","slug":"caitlin-clarks-new-wnba-salary-revealed-after-breakthrough-in-talks-and-weeks-of-tense-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/584264\/","title":{"rendered":"Caitlin Clark’s new WNBA salary revealed after breakthrough in talks and weeks of tense negotiations"},"content":{"rendered":"

By BEN NAGLE, US SPORTS EDITOR<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 09:12 EDT, 5 April 2026 | Updated: 09:14 EDT, 5 April 2026 <\/p>\n

The remarkable salary increases of the WNBA<\/a>‘s biggest stars have been laid bare after weeks of tense discussions with the league finally resulted in a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.<\/p>\n

Caitlin Clark<\/a> has been the face of the league since being drafted No 1 overall by the Indiana<\/a>\u00a0Fever in 2024, but her rookie contract paid her a paltry amount in comparison to her worth to the league.<\/p>\n

Incredibly, Clark was earning just $85,000 a year<\/a> for her first two seasons in the WNBA, gathering the majority of her wealth from sponsorship deals and other endeavors away from the basketball court.<\/p>\n

All that is changing now, with base salaries skyrocketing not just for the current crop of WNBA stars, but also every new player joining the league – with the 2026 Draft happening in New York later this month.<\/p>\n

Clark will earn a new salary of $528k in 2026, a remarkable 521% pay increase from her 2025 wage – all thanks to an ‘EPIC’ new clause, both in name and nature.<\/p>\n

\"Caitlin <\/p>\n

Caitlin Clark is being paid 521% more in 2026 than in 2025, in the wake of the new CBA<\/p>\n

\"Clark <\/p>\n

Clark has become the face of the WNBA in the two years since she was drafted at No 1 overall<\/p>\n

The ‘exceptional performance on initial contract’ clause allows Clark to max out her possibilities on her four-year rookie deal, which still has two years to run before she can demand a much higher base salary from the Fever – or elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The same clause also means that Clark is likely to only have one more season on her rookie deal, before she unlocks a lucrative extension.<\/p>\n

Eligible players are those who win MVP or make the All-WNBA Team in their first three seasons, a category which Clark is set to fall into.<\/p>\n

It’s fair to say Clark may not have too many concerns about her bank balance, though, with Nike currently paying her $28 million over an eight-year deal.<\/p>\n

\"Clark's <\/p>\n

Clark’s new salary of $528k still pales in comparison to her worth to the WNBA, many believe<\/p>\n

\"In <\/p>\n

In March, Clark was also the face of Team USA in a series of World Cup qualifying games<\/p>\n

Many believe that to have been a steal for the sportswear giants, tying down one of the world’s top athletes for a relatively small fee in comparison to others.<\/p>\n

Michael Jordan, for example, is said to still earn $60m annually from Nike, despite retiring from the NBA in 2003<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, some other big salary increases in the WNBA include Aliyah Boston, jumping from $94k to $574k, Paige Bueckers – from $80k to $500k – and Angel Reese – from $75k to $350k.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clark’s Indiana Fever teammate Boston, in fact, is set to be the WNBA’s highest-paid player in 2026, with Dallas’ Diamond Miller ($536,588) in second. Clark is third.<\/p>\n

Share or comment on this article:
\n Caitlin Clark’s new WNBA salary revealed after breakthrough in talks and weeks of tense negotiations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By BEN NAGLE, US SPORTS EDITOR Published: 09:12 EDT, 5 April 2026 | Updated: 09:14 EDT, 5 April…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,735,48,2093,3430,457,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-584264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-caitlin-clark","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-dailymail","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}