LOS ANGELES — Caitlin Clark is worth millions.
She will make a fraction of that as a WNBA rookie.
Clark, the Iowa phenomenon who set the NCAA basketball scoring record and helped the women’s March Madness tournament reach all-time highs in TV ratings, was the No. 1 overall pick for the Indiana Fever in Monday’s WNBA draft.
Caitlin Clark poses with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected as the first overall pick by the Indiana Fever during the 2024 WNBA draft at Brooklyn Academy of Music on Monday, April 15, 2024, in New York City. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images/TNS)
Her jersey sales are already through the roof. The league scheduled the Fever for 36 nationally televised games, more than any other team this season, several days before Clark officially became a member of the team. Likewise, tickets for opposing team’s home games against Indiana saw a spike in interest (and price) long before draft night.
Clark will make $76,535 in base salary this year as a WNBA rookie, part of a four-year contract worth $338,056.
It’s the same received by the other three players drafted in the top four — No. 2 Cameron Brink of Stanford (Sparks), No. 3 Kamilla Cardoso of national champion South Carolina (Chicago Sky) and No. 4 Rickea Jackson of Tennessee (Sparks) — all of whom were part of a class loaded with “household names,” as WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert put it before the draft.
Those salaries are the maximum allowed for rookies, as laid out in the most recent collective bargaining agreement between the WNBA and its players’ association. That CBA runs through the 2027 season, although the players can opt out of the deal following the 2025 season, if they decide as a group to do so by Nov. 1 of this year.
Of course, Clark isn’t going to be struggling financially. She already makes a reported $3 million a year in endorsements and undoubtedly will have an endless stream of other lucrative opportunities come her way. BIG3 co-founder Ice Cube has offered Clark $5 million to become the first female player in his three-on-three basketball league.
Still, it might come as a bit of a shock to learn how relatively little Clark and other star WNBA rookies will make in base salary, especially compared to their counterparts in other leagues. Like Clark, Victor Wembanyama was seen as a generational talent when he was selected No. 1 overall by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2023 draft. His four-year rookieb contract, though, is worth $55.2 million.
Bryce Young, who was drafted No. 1 overall by the NFL’s Carolina Panthers in 2023, is under a four-year, $55.2 million contract. Paul Skenes signed a one-year, $9.2 million deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates after being selected as the top pick in the 2023 Major League Baseball draft. Top 2023 NHL draft pick Connor Bedard received a three-year, $13.35 million contract from the Chicago Blackhawks.
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