Paige Bueckers fulfilled her lifelong dream when the Dallas Wings selected her with the first pick of the 2025 WNBA Draft. While Bueckers has captured the imagination of basketball fans, she won’t be earning anywhere near the amount that the NBA’s top pick is projected to earn as a rookie. Bueckers is set to make about $87,000 per season while the NBA’s top pick is projected to earn around $191,000 per game.
Bueckers is expected to make $348,198 over four seasons with the Wings, provided the team exercises the option in her final year. As for the first pick of this upcoming 2025 NBA Draft, Spotrac estimates they’d make $62.7 million over four seasons.
Cooper Flagg is almost certainly going to be selected with that first pick, and he’s going to make more in salary as a rookie than anyone in the WNBA. Indiana Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell is the highest-paid player this season, and she will earn just $249,244 in 2025.
Of course, this massive difference is a result of the NBA generating far more revenue than the WNBA does. That huge gap won’t be bridged anytime soon, but the hope is that Bueckers and Caitlin Clark can help take the WNBA to greater heights.
The current WNBA Collective Bargaining Agreement expires in 2025, and negotiations have started between the league and the union. With the league having grown thanks, largely, to Clark, the players would want to make a lot more money, with Angel Reese warning of a potential lockout over the CBA.
As for the NBA, there aren’t going to be any CBA negotiations for quite a while. A new one just took effect on July 1, 2023, and runs through the 2029-30 NBA season.
