For all the attention that professional basketball brings, playing in the WNBA has not always meant earning enough to make a comfortable living. For some players, including former Indiana Fever Guard Sophie Cunningham, simply making it to the league was not even enough to guarantee financial security.
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“My rookie year, after taxes and everything, I think I made like $28,000,” Cunningham recently revealed on Thursday’s episode of the “This Past Weekend” podcast with comedian Theo Von. “I was making $28,000, and I was like, I need to get a job. Like, I need to actually do something to make money.”
Looking at the WNBA’s present financial landscape, it is easy to see why that admission would seem hard to believe. But it was the reality, and Sophie Cunningham was far from the only player who considered a second job. In fact, she also pointed to a Seattle Storm player who had done exactly that.
“And there’s a girl, she just came out. She plays for Seattle. She actually was working at, like, a grocery store and playing in the WNBA. So, people actually had two jobs. But now, because of our new CBA agreement, which is great, it’s going to continue to get better. We’re all making good money now, so we don’t need to,” Cunningham added.
Sophie Cunningham was seemingly referring to Seattle Storm guard Natisha Hiedeman, who has also shared details of her early career struggles. After being drafted in 2019 and subsequently cut, she found herself completely broke when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. With employment opportunities highly restricted, she took a job working the 4:00 AM to noon shift at a grocery store just to make ends meet.
Hiedeman is, however, not alone in this. WNBA legends like Candace Parker and Chiney Ogwumike have also previously revealed that they took on second career paths while playing in the league. Parker played many seasons overseas, describing those stints as her primary income streams rather than the WNBA, while Ogwumike got into broadcasting with ESPN while playing.
Many players also supplemented their income by playing overseas in the offseason, often earning three to four times their domestic base salary in countries like Turkey, China, France, and Spain.
Given the financial framework of the CBA at the time, it is easy to understand why. When Cunningham entered the WNBA as a rookie in 2019, the league was operating under the 2014 Collective Bargaining Agreement. Because she was a second-round pick (13th overall), her base contract sat near the lower end of the scale.
Under the WNBA’s previous collective bargaining agreement active in 2019, rookie salaries ranged from approximately $41,965 to $53,537 (and roughly $42,570 for second-round picks). In fact, the entire team salary cap for all 12 players on a roster combined was a mere $996,100 for the 2019 season.
Today’s structure is vastly different. Under the historic 2026-2032 CBA, players now receive an average of 20 percent of all gross league and team revenue, ensuring they benefit directly from rising sponsorships and TV broadcast deals.
The team salary cap has also jumped to $7.0 million, up from just $1.5 million in 2025, and is projected to climb past $11 million by 2032. Base minimum salaries now range from $270,000 to $300,000. In fact, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 WNBA draft was projected to earn $500,000. This means today’s rookies earn double what the league’s maximum possible veteran contract was just a few years ago.
Also, average player compensation now sits at $583,000, pacing to clear $1 million by 2032. And elite veterans can now earn a supermax salary of $1.4 million, the first time WNBA contracts have reached seven figures.
In summary, what the distance between a $28,000 rookie year and a seven-figure supermax tells is the story of a league that has grown enormously in a very short time. Players like Cunningham lived through the lean years and now see the payoff.