The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) consists of twelve teams in 2024, featuring some of the most remarkable female athletes in the world. And the reported earnings of the 20 highest paid WNBA players clearly reflect these athletes’ dedication to their sport.
But are they fairly compensated, compared to their NBA counterparts? In this article, we answer this question by investigating the 2024 salaries of the 20 highest paid WNBA players.
Let’s take a closer look at the figures to find out just how much the top WNBA players made this past season.
20 Highest Paid WNBA Players in 2023–24
Looking at the 20 highest paid WNBA players in the 2023–24 season, we see over a third are paid $220k per year or more. It’s a far cry from their NBA counterparts, many of whom made upwards of $50 million a year.
In fact, NBA players’ salaries are over 90 times higher than those of WNBA players. The following chart should put the difference in perspective.
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Still, six figures a year is nothing to scoff at! Even more interestingly, 1 in 5 of the 20 highest paid WNBA players represented the US at the Olympics. Let’s see who these women are and how much they make, as per the most recent figures published on NBC.
20. Ariel Atkins ($200,000/year)
Washington Mystics shooting guard Ariel Atkins kickstarts our list as the 20th highest paid WNBA player for the season. She currently has six years of WNBA experience under her belt, and her reported salary for the 2024 season is $200,000.
The 27-year-old athlete graduated from the University of Texas and was drafted by the Mystics in 2018 as the 7th pick. A year later, her new team won their first WNBA championship. Atkins renewed her contract with the Mystics in 2023.
In 2018 and 2023, she scored 45.9% points from 2 point field goals. She also had a median of 37.5% 3 point field goal attempts throughout 2018–2024.
It’s clear Ariel Atkins started off strong in the WNBA, and her player stats show further progress on the field. Last season, Ariel Atkins managed 6 steals in a game, the second most of all WNBA players for the year.
19. Kelsey Plum ($200,000/year)
Kelsey Plum comes in next with a reported salary of $200k/year for the 2024 season. She’s also one of the most prolific players on the list, being the second-highest all-time leading point scorer in women’s NCAA college basketball.
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The 29-year-old University of Washington graduate previously played for the Turkish Women’s Basketball League KBSL. She later joined the San Antonio Stars in the 2017 WNBA draft as point guard. She was also the first pick for the draft.
The team has since moved and changed its name to Las Vegas Aces, and Plum has been with them since. In 2022, Plum extended her contract with the Las Vegas Aces for another two years.
She currently ranks #5 in the WNBA for the most three pointers made – 37 last season. Since joining the LVA in 2017, she went from 34.6% field goals, to 47.5% in 2023 – a good FG% for a guard. And in 2024, she reached 49.3% in 3 point field goals.
Clearly, Kelsey Plum is an amazing player and a valuable asset to her team. With 6 years of WNBA experience already behind her, we can only expect for her salary to increase in the upcoming years.
18. DeWanna Bonner ($200,000/year)
The 36-year-old star of the Connecticut Sun comes next on our list with a reported yearly salary on par with Ariel Atkins’s and Kelsey Plum’s.
She has been playing for the Sun as shooting guard and small forward since 2020, after joining the team as a trade player. However, Bonner’s sports career extends a lot further than that, as she has an impressive 14 years of experience in WNBA.
Prior to joining the Sun, she played college basketball for Auburn University and was drafted in 2009 by the Phoenix Mercury team as the fifth pick. She played with Phoenix Mercury for ten years and, during this time, Bonner helped Mercury win two WNBA championships, in 2009 and 2014.
Bonner also played for some international clubs, like the Nadezhda Orenburg (Russia), and the Shandong Six Stars (China), and she’s also been playing for the Turkish team Çukurova Basketbol since 2021.
Last season, she had a record of 6 steals in a game, like Ariel Atkins, and had a 44% field goals score.
17. A’ja Wilson ($200,000/year)
The 27-year-old power forward A’ja Wilson is yet another Las Vegas Aces player featured among last season’s top earners.
She was drafted by them in 2018 as the 1st pick, after previously playing for the University of South Carolina. She first made herself noticed while playing in college, after she took the Gamecocks to their first NCAA championship in 2017.
Several years later, Wilson helped her new team enter the 2022 WNBA championship; she extended her contract with the Aces in 2023 following this remarkable success, and is currently earning a salary of $200,000/year.
In addition to playing for the Aces, Wilson competes internationally, having earned an Olympic gold medal in the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020.
And Wilson’s performance has been at an all-time high these past few years, with her even maintaining a 56.6% effective goal percentage in 2023. In 2024, she was #1 for the most points scored per game, with a record of 28 PTS for the season.
16. Nneka Ogwumike ($204,500/year)
Power forward Nneka Ogwumike marks the first Seattle Storm player on our list. The 33-year-old joined the Seattle team in February 2024 for one year. But she initially entered the WNBA after being drafted as the first pick by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2012.
After playing college basketball at Stanford University, Ogwumike remained with the Los Angeles Sparks for almost 12 years. Ogwumike also played for international teams, including Dynamo Kursk Russia.
It’s easy to see why she was a first pick. She’s had great form throughout her 12 years of experience in the WNBA, even having a 68.7% effective field goal percentage when playing for the LAS in 2016.
Since joining the SEA in 2024, her EFG% sits at 59.1% and she ranked #3 in the WNBA for the highest field goal percentage (56.8% for the season). Her new contract with the Seattle Storm brought her $204,500/year for the 2024 season.
15. Breanna Stewart ($205,000/year)
Breaking into the top 15, we have the 29-year-old Breanna Stewart who plays as a power forward for the New York Liberty and Fenerbahçe S.K. Her 2024 salary is $205,000, according to the NBC.
Her basketball career started in college, when Stewart led the University of Connecticut basketball team to four national championships. She later started in the WNBA playing for the Seattle Storm, after being picked as the first choice in the 2016 WNBA draft.
Throughout 2018–2022, Stewart also played for two Russian teams – Dynamo Kursk and UMMC Ekaterinburg. In 2023, she left the SEA to join the New York Liberty as a free agent, and in 2024 she renewed her contract with NYL for another year.
In 2024, she ranked #4 in the WNBA season leader charts for the most steals and fantasy points per game – 1.9 and 38.2, respectively.
Although she’s not among the top scorers this season, Breanna Stewart has an average true shooting percentage of 58% based on her player stats throughout 2016–2024.
14. Sabrina Ionescu ($205,030/year)
26-year-old point guard Sabrina Ionescu is the youngest athlete and the second New York Liberty player on our list. She currently has only 4 years of experience in the WNBA, but has already been a two-time WNBA All-Star in 2022 and 2023.
After a successful time playing college basketball for the University of Oregon, where she was the NCAA all-time leader in career triple-doubles, Ionescu was drafted by the New York team in 2020 as the 1st pick.
In the 2024 season, she ranked #5 among WNBA season leaders for managing 12 assists in a game. Ionescu was also named Women’s National Team in 2024, so she’ll be competing at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. In the 2024 WNBA season, is earning $205,030/year.
13. Kelsey Mitchell ($206,000/year)
28-year-old Kelsey Mitchell started her basketball career playing for the Ohio State University Team, the Buckeyes, from which she graduated in 2018. Before joining her current team, she also played for the Egyptian Al Ahly basketball club.
During her early days, she was one of the NCAA all-time top scorers (a record recently surpassed by Caitlin Clark), which made her eligible to enter the WNBA.
After graduating in 2018, she joined the Indiana Fever as a second pick in the draft. Six years later, she still plays as a point guard for the team. Her current salary at the club is $206,000/year, just ahead of Sabrina Ionescu.
12. Kayla McBride ($206,500/year)
Kayla McBride is currently the shooting guard for the Minnesota Lynx and Fenerbahçe S.K. When in college, she led the Fighting Irish of the University of Notre Dame to three NCAA championship appearances in the 2010–2011, 2011–2012, and 2013–2014 seasons.
Although currently signed with the Minnesota Lynx and Fenerbahçe, McBride also played for other international clubs in the past, including Uniqa Sopron, Nadezhda Orenburg, and UMMC Ekaterinburg.
In 2014, she was drafted by the San Antonio Stars (now the Las Vegas Aces), for which she played until 2021. The Minnesota Lynx signed McBride in 2021 as a free agent. She’s still with the club in 2024, and she’s reportedly making $206,500 a year.
After 10 years in the WNBA, the 31-year-old athlete is still on top of her game, featuring four times on the WNBA season leaders charts. Last season, McBride ranked:
- #1 for three pointers made (49 3PM)
- #1 for three point percentage (49.5% 3P%)
- #2 for true shooting percentage (68.8% TS%)
- #5 for the percentage of points from 3 point field goals (62.4% %PTS 3PT)
11. Marina Mabrey ($206,667/year)
The only Chicago Sky player on our list is the 27-year-old shooting guard Marina Mabrey. Like Kayla McBride, she’s also an alumni of the University of Notre Dame.
She’s also among the newer WNBA players on our list, having 5 years of experience as of this season. In addition to her current WNBA career, Mabrey played internationally for TTT Riga (Latvia), Bnot Hertzeliya (Israel), and Perth Lynx (Australia).
In the US, she was drafted in 2019 by the Los Angeles Sparks, but was subsequently traded to the Dallas Wings, and then to the Chicago Sky in 2023. This season, she’s currently the team’s leader for the number of points and assists. Her salary in 2024 is $206,667/year.
10. Alyssa Thomas ($209,000/year)
Alyssa Thomas opens up our top ten highest-paid WNBA players thanks to her reported salary of $209,000/year. The 32-year-old athlete plays as a power forward for the Connecticut Sun, and she’s been with the team for ten years since her WNBA draft.
During her college years, Thomas played for the University of Maryland team, the Terrapins. Thomas also played internationally for Korean and Czech clubs, including South Korea’s Bucheon Hana 1Q.
She was drafted in 2014 by the New York Liberty, but was then traded to the Connecticut Sun. In 2018, Thomas renewed her contract with the Sun in a multi-year deal.
She had a strong form this past season, taking both first and second places for the most assists per game, and second place for the most rebounds in a game in WNBA rankings.
9. Skylar Diggins-Smith ($211,340/year)
Skylar Diggins-Smith makes the third former player for the Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish featuring on our list.
The 33-year-old athlete was drafted in 2013 by the Tulsa Shock (later renamed ‘Dallas Wings’) as a third pick. She played for them until 2020, when she was acquired by the Phoenix Mercury.
In February of 2024, Diggings-Smith signed a two-year contract with the Seattle Storm to play point guard. She also had an average of 5.9 assists per game this season, which puts her at #5 in the WNBA rankings for this category.
According to her player stats, she had a very good assist percentage of 31.9%, this season, one of her highest to date. This season marks her 9th year in the WNBA, and her mounting experience has her reportedly earning $211,340/year.
8. Brionna Jones ($212,000/year)
28-year-old power forward Brionna Jones is another Connecticut Sun star to make our list. She played for the University of Maryland Terrapins before being drafted in the WNBA in 2017 by the Sun. She also plays for the Czech USK Prague club.
And Jones does more than just play on the field. In 2023, she also joined the coaching staff of her alma mater at Maryland, where she’s already making big strides supporting women’s basketball. According to Maryland head coach Brenda Frese:
The Sun re-signed her in February 2024 and she started the year strong with a 57.1% field goal percentage. But she’s recently been injured and will reportedly miss the rest of the 2024 season. Her salary in 2024 is $212,000/year.
7. Erica Wheeler ($222,150/year)
32-year-old point guard and shooting guard Erica Wheeler is the second Indiana Fever player to make the top best paid WNBA players ranking.
Unlike many other players on the list, Wheeler wasn’t selected for the WNBA draft upon graduating from college. But she did earn a try-out for the Atlanta Dream in 2015, and has over 8 years of WNBA experience under her belt.
Wheeler then moved to the New York Liberty and then to the Indiana Fever in 2016. Wheeler also played internationally for Turkish and Spanish clubs, including Perfumerias Avenida (2016–2017).
In 2017, she became the first-ever non-drafted WNBA player to earn the All-Star Game MVP title. In the 2024 WNBA season, she’ll be earning $222,150/year.
6. Natasha Howard ($224,680/year)
Natasha Howard plays as a power forward for the Dallas Wings. The 32-year-old athlete started her basketball career in college, when she played for Florida State University.
She entered the WNBA in 2014, after being drafted by the Indiana Fever. Since then, she has played for multiple teams throughout her 10 years in the WNBA. In 2016, she was traded to the Minnesota Lynx, and then to the Seattle Storm in 2018.
Later, she was acquired by the New York Liberty in 2021 and finally, by the Dallas Wings in January of 2023. Howard also plays for the Turkish Fenerbahçe S.K., with Kayla McBride.
This season at the SEA, she scored 14 points in the paint per game, ranking #2 in this WNBA category after A’ja Wilson. She was also #1 for scoring the most fast break points per game, beating Kelsey Mitchell by three spots.
Howard’s salary at the Seattle Storm is $224,680/year for the 2024 season.
Breaking Into the Top 5
We’re now breaking into the top 5 highest paid WNBA players, though surprisingly, the wage difference between #20 and #1 on this list is not that high.
The #1 best paid WNBA player makes roughly 26% more than Ariel Atkins and Kelsey Plum at #20 and #19, respectively. In comparison, according to NBA salary figures from the ESPN, the #1 best paid star earns roughly 37% more than #20 on the NBA list.
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And it seems even the top 5 highest WNBA salaries are still a very long way behind their NBA counterparts.
We’ve already seen the same trend for other sports, such as football, and we once again see that the economic factors, such as the number of people attending NBA and WNBA games, come into play here.
Despite the huge discrepancy, however, the following five female athletes are still undeniably amazing basketball stars and powerful role models. Let’s find out more about them!
5. Diana Taurasi ($234,940/year)
Opening up the top five is the oldest WNBA athlete on our list, 41-year-old Diana Taurasi.
She is the point guard and shooting guard for the Phoenix Mercury, for which she’s been playing since 2004. Before that, she led her college team of the University of Connecticut to three consecutive NCAA championships throughout 2002–2004.
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Widely believed to be WNBA’s greatest player ever, Taurasi has collected a number of accolades over her two-decade-long career. These include three WNBA championship wins (in 2007, 2009, and 2014), and five Olympic gold medals – most recent one being in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
As of 2023, she’s also the #1 all-time WNBA scorer, a feat she achieved throughout her long and illustrious basketball career. Besides the WNBA, Taurasi played for several Russian and Turkish teams throughout the years, including Dynamo Moscow and Galatasaray.
She reportedly earns $234,940/year in the 2024 season.
4. Arike Ogunbowale ($241,980/year)
Arike Ogunbowale comes two spots ahead of her Dallas Wings teammate, Natasha Howard, but she’s also been with the team a lot longer. The 27-year-old point guard was drafted by the Wings in 2019 as a fifth pick, and has been playing for them ever since.
In college, she played for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, like a number of other athletes on our list. Ogunbowale also played internationally in Russia and Turkey for Dynamo Kursk and OGM Ormanspor.
Her performance in the 2024 season at DAL is particularly outstanding, as Arike Ogunbowale reached a free throw percentage of 92.3%, her highest to date.
As you can expect, she’s been one of the most efficient scorers this season, even scoring 40 points in a single game, the most in the WNBA. She also ranks #3 in the WNBA for the most total points, with a record of 299 PTS for the season.
Her 2024 salary is $241,980/year.
3. Kahleah Copper ($245,060/year)
This 29-year-old athlete plays as a shooting guard and small forward for the Phoenix Mercury. She is also Diana Taurasi’s teammate, although she only joined the PHO in 2024.
After graduating from Rutgers, Copper was drafted in 2016 by the Washington Mystics and traded to the Chicago Sky after one season. She’s been with CHI until 2024, and she recently joined the Phoenix Mercury.
Like many other players on the list, Copper played internationally; she was with the Spanish team Perfumerias Avenida for one year (2021–2022). She’s also part of the US qualifying team for the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics.
Though she’s only been playing for PHO for a short while, she’s already had a few impressive accomplishments for the season. She had an amazing 32.7% usage percentage, and scored 336 total points, the most in the WNBA.
She’s also just one spot behind Arike Ogunbowale for the most points scored in a game, with a record of 38 PTS. Her 2024 season salary is $245,060/year.
2. Jewell Lloyd ($245,500/year)
Jewell Lloyd, the 30-year-old Seattle Storm point guard and shooting guard, is yet another Fighting Irish alumnus on our list.
In her final season at the University of Notre Dame, Lloyd helped the Fighting Irish advance to the 2015 NCAA championship, a feat for which she was named espnW National Player of the Year.
Since then, she also played internationally for Turkish, Korean, Chinese, and Spanish clubs, most notably Galatasaray, Busan BNK, and Perfumerías Avenida. She was drafted by the Seattle Storm in 2015 as the first pick, and she’s been with the team ever since.
In the 2024 season, she scored an average of 19.8 points per game, and had an usage percentage of 28.4%. She also ranks fifth in the WNBA for most total points scored (277 PTS), being 22 points behind Arike Ogunbowale.
Still going strong into her 10th year with the SEA, Lloyd will be making $245,500/year.
1. Jackie Young ($252,450/year)
Jackie Young is the best paid WNBA athlete this season. She currently earns $252,450/year, just slightly above the median $230k/year across the top 10 WNBA salaries.
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This Las Vegas Aces superstar might be only 26 but she’s already got several impressive accolades under her belt, so her being first in our ranking is no surprise.
This LVA shooting guard was drafted in 2019 as the first pick, so this season marks her 5th year in the WNBA. Prior to that, she played at the University of Notre Dame, leading the Fighting Irish to an NCAA championship in 2018.
She also played internationally for clubs in Turkey, Israel, and Australia, most notably the Perth Lynx, and is one of the few athletes listed who has won an Olympic gold medal (2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo).
This season, she placed fifth in the WNBA guards ranking, just one spot behind her teammate Kelsey Plum. Young’s salary for 2024 is $252,450/year.
What is the Highest Paying WNBA Team?
According to Spotrac, in 2024, the Connecticut Sun currently has the highest total cap for its players’ salaries. Home team to Dewanna Bonner, Alyssa Thomas and Brionna Jones, The Sun’s cap is at $1,443,840.
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The Connecticut team is closely followed by the Los Angeles Sparks, the former team of Nneka Ogwumike, which boasts a cap of $1,427,870.
How Much Can a WNBA Rookie Be Expected to Make?
In short, the salary of a WNBA rookie depends on their draft position. Typically, the highest salaries go to the first four picks, and the remuneration goes down from there. In 2024, the first year base salary has the top four rookie picks making $76,540/year.
The above figure is the starting salary of the 2024 WNBA first draft pick Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever, who’s widely regarded as one of the greatest NCAA players of all time. She’ll be earning $338,000 over the next four years under her rookie contract.
How Much Does Brittney Griner Make?
Although a phenomenal player with incredible achievements, such as two Olympic gold medals, Griner’s 2024 salary is a modest $150,000, as reported by the NBC. She’s also been off the field for a while, and recently returned to the WNBA after a short absence.
The PHO center has had a tough few months, after being arrested by the Russian authorities in 2022 on drug-related charges. She was released in May 2023, being able to return to the WNBA for last year’s season.
Who’s the Lowest Paid Player in the WNBA?
The rookies that get picked 25th-36th are some of the lowest-paid WNBA athletes. Their 2024 salary is $64,150/year, considerably lower compared to the first four picks.
Several rookies earn this salary, however, and it’s not possible to say whether any of them make less than that. Some of these rookies are Nastja Claessens and Txell Aalarcon of the Washington Mystics.
Concluding Thoughts
As you can see from these figures, there’s still a lot of work to be done to bridge the gender pay gap between the NBA and the WNBA players. We look forward to seeing both franchises address this issue in the future, and we hope that in our 2025 article about the highest-paid WNBA players, the differences won’t be as stark.
This article showcased the salaries of the most prolific WNBA athletes in the 2024 season. We were particularly impressed by the caliber of players from the University of Notre Dame – talk about the luck of the Irish!
We also couldn’t help but mention the outstanding stars Brittney Griner, who’s gone through a lot to get back to her favorite sport, and the breakout star Caitlin Clark, who set a new record as an all-time NCAA top scorer. We look forward to seeing them flourish!
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