The WNBA is in the middle of a historic rise. Record-breaking ratings, sold-out arenas, and its stars becoming household names. It feels eerily similar to the NHL’s surge in the 1990s, when the league’s booming popularity sparked rapid expansion to 26 teams by 1993. But that growth came at a cost. The NHL soon found itself tangled in a brutal labor dispute, leading to a 103-day lockout in 1994–95 that wiped out 468 games. Fast forward to now, and the WNBA stands at a similar crossroad. With CBA negotiations still ongoing, players like Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers could face some of the biggest decisions of their careers.

The WNBPA and the WNBA are deep in negotiations over what both sides have called a “transformational” new CBA. To buy more time, they’ve already agreed to a 30-day extension, hoping to hammer out a deal that truly changes the game. The players are pushing for better pay and a fairer revenue-sharing model, one that reflects their growing impact on the sport. As the new deadline approaches, you can’t help but feel that a major decision is just around the corner. After all, no one wants this momentum to end in a lockout, right?

For stars like Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers, the outcome of the new CBA could be extremely beneficial…not for the reasons you think, though. Take Clark, for example — her rookie contract with the Indiana Fever is worth $338,056 over four years, averaging just $84,514 per season. Last year, she earned around $76,535 plus bonuses, which, according to Sportico, made up only 1% of her total income. The rest — a staggering $11.1 million — came from off-court deals, setting a record for the highest annual earnings by a WNBA player.

Having sponsorship deals with Nike, Gatorade, State Farm, Wilson, Hy-Vee, Xfinity, Gainbridge, Lilly, and Panini has certainly helped Caitlin Clark thrive in a league where player salaries are still far from matching their market value. In 2025, the minimum salary for players with two or fewer years of experience in the league was just $66,079, and $78,831 for those with three or more. Even the regular max sat at $214,466, while the elite “supermax” players got around $250,000.

It’s a similar story for Paige Bueckers, who signed a three-year, $247,688 contract with the Dallas Wings, earning an average annual salary of $82,563. Like Clark, Paige’s income isn’t defined by her WNBA paycheck alone. She has endorsement deals with Nike, Gatorade, Dunkin’, Bose, Crocs, StockX, Leaf Trading Cards, and GoArmy, making her one of the most marketable athletes in women’s basketball. On top of that, she’s among the highest-paid players in Unrivaled, where the league’s average salary sits around $222,222.

So, while the upcoming CBA could completely reshape the financial picture for most players, it might not change much for Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark.

In fact, their off-court success gives them a rare kind of leverage — the flexibility to prioritize building championship teams over chasing bigger paychecks. Both still have two years left on their current deals, but once they hit free agency, they’ll have the flexibility to take team-friendly contracts, much like A’ja Wilson did with the Aces. That move allowed Las Vegas to build a championship-caliber roster and helped them win 3 titles in 4 years.

But right now, no one really knows what the salary cap will look like under the new CBA, or whether there will even be a need to take pay cuts to build championship-caliber rosters. That’s something we’ll only find out once the deal is finalized. What’s worth noting, though, is that much of their endorsement money is tied directly to their performance and visibility in the WNBA, as per ESPN. So if the league fails to reach an agreement and heads into a lockout, it could also put those multi-million-dollar sponsorships at risk.

Well, Paige would still have Unrivaled to fall back on….. but what about Caitlin Clark? Well, she might just have another option waiting for her.

Could Caitlin Clark join Project B?

Earlier this week, it was announced that WNBA Players Association president Nneka Ogwumike has signed with Project B, becoming the first player publicly linked to the newly launched women’s professional basketball league. And this is just the beginning. Every player in Project B will reportedly receive equity in the league, along with a salary that surpasses Unrivaled’s already impressive pay scale.

In an interview with The Athletic, Alana Beard, the chief basketball officer for Project B, revealed that the new league has already secured several major signings. She shared that they’ve landed “multiple current All-WNBA players who have received those honors, young superstars who are on the rise, and players from four different continents.”

Could Caitlin Clark be one of them? There’s no confirmation yet, but the idea isn’t far-fetched. Project B will launch with seven two-week tournaments held across Asia, Europe, and the Americas from November 2026 to April 2027, a schedule that perfectly fits between WNBA seasons and allows players plenty of time to recover. For someone like Clark, who’s always looking to expand her brand and game on a global stage, it’s an opportunity that would make a lot of sense. But for now, we’ll have to wait and see if she makes the move.