What is the WNBA minimum salary in 2026?

$270,000 to $300,000 depending on years of service, under the CBA ratified in March 2026.

What is the WNBA salary cap in 2026?

$7 million per team for 2026. From 2027 it is set at 20% of the prior year’s combined league and team revenue.

How much do WNBA players make under the new CBA?

By McKinley Malbrough III, J.D., MS-HRM · Certified WNBA player agent

Published September 26, 2026. Last updated September 26, 2026.

Short answer

Under the collective bargaining agreement ratified in March 2026, the minimum WNBA salary is $270,000 to $300,000 depending on years of service, the maximum is $1.4 million, and the league estimates the average at about $583,000. Each team's cap is $7 million for 2026 and, from then on, is tied to a share of league and team revenue. In 2025 the minimum was $66,079.

What changed in 2026?

The WNBA and the players' association reached a new seven-year agreement in March 2026, covering the 2026 through 2032 seasons, with an opt-out after 2031. Players and the league's Board of Governors both ratified it unanimously within days, per ESPN. The league calls it the first comprehensive revenue-sharing model in women's professional sports, per its announcement.

The scale of the change: the 2025 minimum was $66,079 and the 2025 supermax was $249,244. The 2026 minimum is higher than the old supermax.

How is the salary cap set?

The cap is fixed at $7 million per team for 2026, up from about $1.5 million in 2025. After that it is set at 20% of "Shared Basketball Revenue," defined as the prior year's combined league and team revenue, according to ESPN's reporting on the long-form agreement. Under the 2020 agreement the cap was a set number that grew 3% a year; now it moves with the business.

What do players earn at each level?

Maximum: $1.4 million in 2026, about 20% of the cap, projected to pass $2.4 million by 2032.
Minimum: $270,000 to $300,000 in 2026 based on years of service, rising 4% a year to roughly $340,000 to $380,000 by 2032. The two sides can revisit minimums if the cap climbs sharply.
Average: about $583,000, a league estimate, compared with about $120,000 in 2025.
Rookies: a new pick-by-pick scale starting at $500,000 for the No. 1 pick. The full rookie scale is here.
Developmental contracts: base pay of $750 for each week of the regular season.

What else is in the deal?

The season grows to a maximum of 50 games in 2027 and 2028 and 52 from 2029 through 2032, up from 44, per SportsPro. Players coming off rookie-scale deals can sign maximum contracts for the first time. The core player designation, which works much like the NFL franchise tag, remains. The agreement also expands retirement and family-planning benefits, per CBS Sports.

What does it mean for playing overseas?

For years, overseas contracts paid many WNBA players more than their WNBA salaries, which is why so many played year-round. With a $270,000 floor, the math changes: fewer players may need a winter season abroad, and the ones who go can negotiate from a stronger position. Here is how overseas contracts work, and what FIBA requires before you can play abroad.

What to watch next

The 2026 numbers are fixed; everything after depends on revenue. Watch the league's reported revenue, the expansion teams joining the league, and the cap announced for 2027. A player signing a multiyear deal now should know whether her future salaries are fixed or tied to the rising cap, because that one clause can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars by 2032.

Sources

Data current as of September 26, 2026. Figures are linked where each one appears. Leagues and regulators update these rules; check the source before relying on a number.