Caitlin Clark was unsurprisingly selected with the first pick of the 2024 WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever on Monday. While it is quite the honor to be the first pick, Clark’s rookie contract shows she isn’t in for a big payday. As per the WNBA rookie pay scale, the 22-year-old will reportedly get a four-year, $338,056 deal.
https://t.co/hqF3Oq155B pic.twitter.com/Q5cmWaMz9c
— Spotrac (@spotrac) April 15, 2024
That’s a severe underpay for a player of Clark’s caliber. She became a national sensation during her time with Iowa and broke the all-time NCAA Division I scoring record. Clark reportedly made close to a million via NIL deals during her senior season at Iowa and won’t even be making half a million over four years in salary in the WNBA.
Sure, those NIL deals become sponsorships as she is now a professional, which means she won’t be strapped for cash, but Clark will not be getting a whole lot for her actual play on the court. For some context, her salary in her rookie year is less than the amount that the NBA fined James Harden after his comments about Daryl Morey last year, which was $100,000.
This contract she will be signing will also be given to the second (Cameron Brink), third (Kamilla Cardoso), and fourth (Rickea Jackson) picks of the Draft. As for someone like Angel Reese, who was the seventh pick, the amount is a little bit lower than that. Reese reportedly will be signing a four-year, $324,383 deal.
https://t.co/hqF3Oq155B pic.twitter.com/UrtQNu72Lw
— Spotrac (@spotrac) April 16, 2024
That’s quite less for her as well, but even the highest-paid players in the WNBA at present don’t make much. Three players are tied for the highest base salary in 2024 at $241,984 a year: Jewell Loyd (Seattle Storm), Arike Ogunbowale (Dallas Wings), and Kahleah Copper (Phoenix Mercury).
This is all mostly, of course, down to economics. The WNBA as a league just doesn’t bring in a massive amount of revenue, and the NBA has had to support it for years. Unless the league makes more money, the players just won’t make a lot, no matter how great they might be.
The hope is that the likes of Clark, Reese, and Brink can help take the WNBA to new heights. All three have somewhat become household names by now and if they go on to shine at the big stage, it’ll only draw more eyeballs to the league.
Caitlin Clark Was Offered $5 Million By Ice Cube To Play In The BIG3
While the WNBA wasn’t going to give Clark millions in 2024, another league actually was. Rapper Ice Cube offered Clark $5 million to join his BIG3 league.
“We intended the offer to remain private while Caitlin Clark plays for the championship. But I won’t deny what’s now already out there: BIG3 made a historic offer to Caitlin Clark. Why wouldn’t we? Caitlin is a generational athlete who can achieve tremendous success in the BIG3.”
Clark, however, appears to have declined the offer. Had she accepted, the BIG3 was willing to allow her to play in the WNBA as well. Ice Cube stated that he was providing WNBA players with a better alternative to make money than going overseas.
Clark would just have to play eight regular season games and potentially two playoff games to pocket $5 million. It seemed like a great deal on paper, but she wasn’t interested. It wasn’t clear whether the WNBA itself would have allowed an agreement of that sort.
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