A League Built on Greatness—But Not on PayBy Anthony Price  A'ja Wilson gets excited.  A’ja Wilson just climbed Everest. The Las Vegas Aces’ superstar scored 31 points in the decisive game against the Phoenix Mercury in Game 4, with a 97-86 win and a 4-0 sweep—delivering the franchise’s third WNBA championship in four years. As she collected the MVP trophy for her effort, her broad smile said what the box store didn’t: this is her league now. “She’s alone on Everest,” coach Becky Hammon said after the game. “There’s no one around.” Wilson, in her eighth season, is the face of the WNBA. She’s collected almost every accolade imaginable: Finals MVP, WNBA MVP, All-Defensive First Team, Defensive Player of the Year, Blocks Leaders, Scoring Champion, and an All-Star. Her success even led to her first signature shoe with Nike: the A’One. When Winning Doesn’t Pay The shocking news is that without the Nike deal, Wilson couldn’t make ends meet on her $200,000 salary. That’s what the best basketball player on the planet makes in what is billed as the premier women’s basketball league. It’s a story that mirrors a growing American workplace phenomenon: the people doing the heavy lifting create the value, while executives and owners reap the rewards. Some WNBA coaches are paid a million dollars. Franchise values are soaring toward the stratosphere—making owners richer. The league’s total value has reached $3.5 billion, according to Sportico. The average team is now worth $269 million, up from $96 million just a year earlier. The Golden State Valkyries, after their inaugural season, are valued at $500 million. Meanwhile, most players work a second job—often overseas—to make a living.  The appetite for expansion is so strong that prospective owners are lining up to plunk down $250 million in expansion fees—a sharp counterargument to the league’s insistence that it’s still “losing money.” Meanwhile, most players work a second job—often overseas—to make a living. Caitlin Clark, one of the brightest stars in the league, earned $78,066 on her rookie contract in 2025—despite filling arenas and leading jersey sales. For Wilson, Clark, and every player in between, the only hope for a fairer future rests on the upcoming collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The Game Off the Court The CBA is the economic backbone of the WNBA—the document that spells out how the financial pie is divided. The players opted out of the current agreement in November 2024 because their slice amounted to crumbs. The negotiation is at the intersection of gender, sport, labor, and capitalism. The owners are fighting to protect power, control, and profit. The players are fighting to uplift a generation of women athletes. Labor battles in America are never easy. Every right workers have—from fair pay to basic benefits—was fought for and often won at significant cost. The WNBA’s players know that history. While the players dominate on the court, the CBA is where the real game is played, and the owners have home-court advantage. They can afford armies of lawyers, accountants, and public relations strategists. They’ve also long benefited from the fine print of a deal that heavily favors them.  Caitlin Clark in Indianapolis at All-Star Weekend. The players are fighting to uplift a generation of women athletes. The last CBA used an arcane revenue-sharing formula so complex it required a room full of financial engineers to calculate how much the players were entitled to receive. The result: in 2025, the players received about 9.3% of basketball-related revenue. By comparison, in the four major men’s professional leagues, the split between the league and the players is about 50-50. That imbalance exists even as new money is flooding the league. A new $2.2 billion media-rights deal begins in 2026, boosting the cash that will be available to both sides. But how that pie is sliced will depend entirely on the outcome of these negotiations. The October 31 deadline looms large. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has put his towering reputation on the line for getting a deal done. “We will get a deal done with the players,” he said in Stamford, CT. “Lots of work left to be done, but we’ll of course get a new collective bargaining agreement.” The players, though, are making their stance clear. It won’t be easy because the players are determined to be paid what they are worth. At the 2025 All-Star game in mid-July in Indianapolis, they took the floor in black t-shirts with one message: “Pay Us What You Owe Us.” The fans roared. The battle lines are drawn.  Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings. When Women’s Sports Meet Capitalism Capitalism assigns a value to everything—but historically, it has undervalued women’s work. For generations, women have been paid less, recognized less, and expected to accept less. That legacy is alive and well in professional sports. Across the U.S. economy, women still earn 82 cents for every dollar a man makes. Economists attribute this gap to occupational segregation, systemic discrimination, and persistent cultural norms that devalue women’s labor. The same undervaluation plays out on the court. Some NBA players earn more than $50 million a year, a single salary that eclipses the combined total WNBA payroll for three decades. In 2025, the WNBA team salary cap was $1.5 million for 12 players. The Las Vegas Aces’ Jackie Young is the league’s highest-paid player at $252,450, according to Spotrac. Their sponsorship deals have already crossed the million-dollar mark, a reminder that their worth is undeniable—even if the league refuses to pay it. And yet, the market knows the real value of women like A’ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark, and Angel Reese. Their sponsorship deals have already crossed the million-dollar mark, a reminder that their worth is undeniable—even if the league refuses to pay it. Everyone Can Win—That’s America This negotiation isn’t just about basketball. It’s about a movement toward equality—a line that stretches back through the women’s suffrage movement, Title IX, and every fight to be seen, heard, and paid fairly. The WNBA and its players are at the table for what could become the most consequential CBA in sports, carrying the weight of not only their own futures but the hopes, dreams, and possibilities of women in America. The best basketball players in the world should not have to work two jobs to make ends meet—not when coaches make seven figures and the WNBA Commissioner’s salary is hidden from public view. The new CBA must honor their contributions, value their labor, and treat them as full partners, not as cheap labor begging for scraps. This is a moment for the league to rise to the occasion—because when women win, everyone wins. ### Anthony Price is an entrepreneur, author and publisher of CT Hoops Magazine. Around the Sun is a weekly column about the Connecticut Sun.
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