How much money will Paige Bueckers make in the WNBA? Here's a look at her rookie contract salary

DALLAS — Basketball fans in the Dallas-Fort Worth area can watch more than half of the Dallas Wings' 2025 games for free on KFAA! Here's how to tune in . The pick is in, and Paige Bueckers is a member of the Dallas Wings! Bueckers, coming hot off a national championship with U Conn, has been one of the most anticipated players in women's basketball to go pro. Now, she'll suit up for Dallas.

No. 1 picks make a lot of money in most men's leagues, but the WNBA is a different story. How much will Paige Bueckers get paid? The WNBA's Collective Bargaining agreement makes Bueckers' salary for the next three to four years pretty clear.



Drafted WNBA rookies are immediately signed to three-year contracts that include a fourth-year team option. In her rookie season, Bueckers' salary will be $78,831. That does go up, gradually, over time.

In year 2, it goes up to $80,408, then $88,449 in year 3 and, if the Wings use their team option, $100,510 in year 4. That gives Bueckers' rookie deal (and the other top-four picks) a valuation of $348,198. WNBA draft picks' salaries are also not guaranteed.

They are "protected," per the CBA, meaning that they only get paid for as long as they're on the roster. Say a player were to get cut halfway through the season, they'd only make half their salary. Many WNBA fans — and players — have been critical of the low pay in the league compared to its male counterpart, the NBA.

Still, star players stand to make a lot more off the court than they do on it. Bueckers, like many college athletes, has raked in some dough already in NIL deals. That includes a deal with Nike, with whom she made history as the first college athlete to have her own signature design .

Endorsements like Nike's are sure to continue rolling in for Bueckers, who has garnered attention for her on-court performance since her days at Hopkins High School in Minnesota. The UConn star is also expected to make a significant salary playing in the WNBA offseason. ESPN's Kendra Andrews reported Sunday that Bueckers will sign a three-year deal with Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 league that plays for 10 weeks during the WNBA offseason.

According to ESPN's report, her salary for the Unrivaled season will exceed what she would make during her first four years in the WNBA. Bueckers already has equity in Unrivaled after signing an NIL deal with the league last year..