A’ja Wilson is the highest-paid WNBA player as of November 2026, on a three-year, $5 million supermax deal with the Las Vegas Aces that averages about $1.67 million a season. We rank current WNBA players by the average annual value of their contracts for the 2026 season, the first played under the league’s new collective bargaining agreement. Endorsements, Unrivaled pay and overseas money are left out of the number and mentioned separately where they are documented.
No list of WNBA salaries from before 2026 is worth much now. In 2025 the supermax was $249,244 and the team salary cap sat around $1.5 million. The new deal pushed the cap to $7 million per team, set the regular max near $1.19 million and the supermax at $1.4 million, and lifted the minimum to $270,000. One season turned a league of six-figure contracts into a league of seven-figure ones, and this ranking is the first one built entirely on the new money.
| Rank | Name | Team | Pay per year (USD) | Deal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Bridget Carleton and Alanna Smith (tied) | Portland Fire / Dallas Wings | $1.25 million | Terms not disclosed |
| 9 | Gabby Williams | Golden State Valkyries | $1.25 million | Multiyear |
| 8 | Jonquel Jones | New York Liberty | $1.25 million | 3 years, about $3.75 million |
| 7 | Sabrina Ionescu | New York Liberty | $1.25 million | 3 years, max |
| 6 | Breanna Stewart | New York Liberty | $1.25 million | 3 years, max |
| 5 | Ezi Magbegor | Seattle Storm | $1.25 million | Re-signed 2026 |
| 4 | Napheesa Collier | Minnesota Lynx | $1.4 million | 1 year, supermax |
| 3 | Kelsey Mitchell | Indiana Fever | $1.4 million | 1 year, supermax |
| 2 | Aliyah Boston | Indiana Fever | $1.58 million | 4 years, $6.3 million |
| 1 | A’ja Wilson | Las Vegas Aces | $1.67 million | 3 years, $5 million |
Pay per year is the average annual value of each contract as of November 2026. Six players share an average of $1,249,500, the value of a three-year standard max with 5 percent raises; Ezi Magbegor sits $500 above them. Ties are ordered by confirmed contract length and total, and players whose terms were never disclosed share the last spot. Collier and Mitchell are tied, listed by signing order.
10. Bridget Carleton and Alanna Smith: $1.25 million
Two forwards who spent 2025 as teammates in Minnesota share the last spot, and both landed new homes. Carleton, a Canadian wing known for spacing the floor and guarding bigger players, was picked by the expansion Portland Fire. Smith, an Australian forward who made the All-Defensive team with the Lynx, signed with the Dallas Wings in free agency.
A year earlier, both were role players on salaries far below $250,000. Under the new rules, defenders who can switch onto anyone are suddenly worth max money, because a $7 million cap gives teams room to pay more than one or two stars.
Salary trackers list each at an average of about $1.25 million; neither team disclosed the length or total, which is why they share a line.
9. Gabby Williams: $1.25 million
Williams is the kind of player coaches build defensive plans around. The French national team wing can guard four positions, and she joined the Golden State Valkyries on a multiyear deal on the second day of 2026 free agency.
The Bay Area team, an expansion club in 2025 that sold out its arena from the start, had cap space and used a big piece of it on her. She also signed a multiyear contract with Unrivaled, the three-on-three winter league, which pays on top of this figure.
Her number is the reported average of a multiyear contract whose exact length was not announced.
8. Jonquel Jones: $1.25 million
Jones was the 2021 league MVP and the Finals MVP when New York won its first title in 2024. At 6-foot-6 with a jump shot, she is the reason the Liberty can play big and still space the floor.
She re-signed in April on a three-year deal at the regular max with 5 percent raises: about $1.19 million in 2026, $1.25 million in 2027 and $1.31 million in 2028. Add it up and the deal is worth roughly $3.75 million.
Those salary steps come from sourced reporting, since the Liberty did not publish terms, and their average puts her here.
7. Sabrina Ionescu: $1.25 million
Ionescu might be the best-known guard in the league outside Indiana. She hit the game-winning three in Game 3 of the 2024 Finals and owns one of the few signature sneakers in women’s basketball, a deal that pays her well beyond anything on this list.
In April she re-signed with the Liberty on a three-year standard max, the same structure as Jones and Stewart. New York kept its three stars together and spent most of its new cap room doing it.
The figure is the average of three max seasons; the sneaker money is a separate stream we do not count.
6. Breanna Stewart: $1.25 million
Stewart has two MVP awards and championships with two franchises, and she co-founded Unrivaled with Napheesa Collier. That makes her one of the few players who earns as an owner as well as an employee.
She announced her return to the Liberty on a max contract and signed a three-year deal, with her salary set at a fixed share of the cap each year. Her base for 2026 is about $1.19 million.
We rank the three-year average, about $1.25 million, which puts her level with her two teammates.
5. Ezi Magbegor: $1.25 million
Magbegor is a shot-blocker from Melbourne who has spent her whole WNBA career in Seattle. Teams that lose to the Storm usually lose at the rim, and she is a big part of that.
Seattle used its core designation on her before free agency and then re-signed her, a clear signal that the club sees her as a building block rather than a role player.
Salary trackers list her at $1.25 million a year, $500 more than the max-contract group behind her.
4. Napheesa Collier: $1.4 million
Collier finished second in MVP voting in 2025 and spent the winter running Unrivaled, the league she co-founded. Her base salary was always lower than her influence. In 2025 she made under $250,000 from the Lynx.
In April she took a one-year, $1.4 million supermax to return to Minnesota, the third player to sign one. The short term is a bet on herself: she becomes an unrestricted free agent again before 2027, when the cap and the supermax both rise.
Her ranking reflects a one-year supermax, so the average and the full contract are the same $1.4 million.
3. Kelsey Mitchell: $1.4 million
Mitchell spent years as one of the league’s best scorers on a team that rarely won. That changed when Indiana built a contender around Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston, and Mitchell’s speed in transition became one of the reasons the Fever were worth watching.
She was among the first players to sign a supermax under the new deal, taking a one-year, $1.4 million contract with the Fever. Like Collier, she chose the shorter term and the bigger raise that should follow in 2027.
Collier has the same one-year, $1.4 million structure; Mitchell is listed first because she signed first.
2. Aliyah Boston: $1.58 million
Boston signed the biggest contract in WNBA history by total value, and she did it before she even reached free agency. The 2023 first overall pick and Rookie of the Year became the first player to sign an extension under the new EPIC rule, which lets players on rookie deals renegotiate their fourth season into a long-term contract.
The Fever gave her four years and $6.3 million through 2029, which beat Wilson’s deal on total money. Her average of about $1.58 million is still a little lower.
Divide $6.3 million by four seasons and you get the number in her heading, from an extension Indiana signed in April 2026.
1. A’ja Wilson: $1.67 million
Wilson has four MVP awards and has been the face of the Aces’ title runs, and for most of her career she was paid less than an NBA rookie on a two-way contract. In 2025 her salary was $200,000.
On April 15, 2026, she re-signed with Las Vegas for three years and $5 million, all guaranteed. It is a supermax deal and, per year, the richest contract in the league. Her endorsement income is larger still: she has her own signature shoe with a major sneaker brand, along with other national sponsors.
Wilson’s $1.67 million is the three-year, $5 million total spread evenly across 2026, 2027 and 2028.
Just outside the top 10
- Allisha Gray: the Atlanta Dream guard re-signed at an average of about $1.23 million, a few thousand dollars below the cut.
- Kahleah Copper: the Phoenix Mercury wing is listed at $1.23 million a year after re-signing in 2026.
- Caitlin Clark: still on her rookie contract, adjusted to about $530,000 for 2026. The Fever exercised her fourth-year option, and she becomes eligible for a much larger EPIC extension that could land her near the top of this list in 2027. Her endorsement income, including a long-term sneaker deal reported at $28 million over eight years, already dwarfs every salary here.
- Angel Reese: another rookie-scale star whose sponsorship and media earnings run far ahead of her WNBA salary.
What the highest-paid WNBA players have in common
- The new deal compressed the top. The gap between first and tenth is about $420,000. In the NBA it is tens of millions. With the max and supermax set as a share of the cap, most stars land within a few hundred thousand dollars of each other.
- Short deals are a strategy. Collier and Mitchell signed for one year because the cap rises with league revenue. A one-year supermax in 2026 is a bet on a bigger one in 2027.
- Bigs and defenders got paid. Half the list are forwards or centers known for defense first, a sign that teams with real cap room pay for things that never show up in a highlight reel.
- The real money is still outside the salary. Wilson, Ionescu, Stewart and Collier all earn more from sneakers, sponsors or league ownership than from their contracts, and the most famous player in the sport, Caitlin Clark, does not make the top 10.
FAQ
Who is the highest-paid WNBA player in 2026?
A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces, on a three-year, $5 million supermax contract that averages about $1.67 million a season.
What is the WNBA max salary in 2026?
Under the new collective bargaining agreement, the supermax is about $1.4 million for 2026 and the regular max is about $1.19 million. Both rise with the salary cap in later years.
How much does Caitlin Clark make in the WNBA?
About $530,000 for 2026, her rookie contract adjusted under the new deal. Her endorsements are worth far more, and she becomes eligible for a max-level extension.
What is the minimum WNBA salary in 2026?
$270,000 for players with no experience, rising to $300,000 for veterans with 10 or more years in the league.
Who has the biggest WNBA contract by total value?
Aliyah Boston, with a four-year, $6.3 million extension from the Indiana Fever that runs through 2029.
How much does the 10th highest-paid WNBA player make?
About $1.25 million a year, an average shared by Bridget Carleton and Alanna Smith, and by four players ranked just above them.
How we ranked pay
Our rankings are based on public contract reporting, team and school disclosures, and salary databases, all compiled in an internal pay model. Unless we say otherwise, we rank by the average annual value of each current contract and leave endorsements out of the number. Figures are approximate and can change quickly as new deals are signed.
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Last updated: November 2026.
