Scott Boras has done it again. Or perhaps it’s Steve Cohen, handing out yet another contract dripping with dollars that has broken even Shohei Ohtani’s deal with the LA Dodgers. The New York Mets are the proud new employers of Juan Soto with a mammoth $765 million for 15 years. And although the Bronx may be lamenting the Yankees letting a talent like Soto go to Queens, all the WNBA community can think about is yet another gigantic pay gap when it comes to players like Caitlin Clark and A’ja Wilson.

Former MLB pitcher Jacob Turner revealed some interesting numbers on the Soto deal masterminded by his agent. Boras had a horrible offseason in 2023 where it seemed like he had lost his touch. Just a year later, he has helped his biggest free agent ink a deal that will pay him $38,250,000. Caitlin Clark’s yearly salary on the other hand? $76,535 in 2024.

Note that it was her rookie salary and the W has a cap on it. Yet, even from 2025 onwards, it is only expected to go up to $78,066. Her total four-year contract with the Indiana Fever is worth $338,056, whereas A’ja Wilson, someone the league is proud the call one of the highest-paid athletes, earned $200,000 in 2024. Boras easily supersedes both of them with a colossal eight-figure number.

If you combine all of the WNBA players’ salaries, the number totals $16,387,038. That’s a $21,862,962 gap between the women’s hoops league and one of baseball’s top agents. Per Spotrack, the highest earners in the league this last season were Arike Ogunbowale ($725,952), Jewell Loyd ($491,016), and Kahleah Copper ($245,059).

One could argue that where the W is barely three decades old, MLB in some form or the other has existed since the late 1800s; men’s sports are generally more watched than women’s; there is a reason Scott Boras is called a superagent, famous for getting teams to agree to high-paying contracts that are nothing less than what his clients deserve.

Sure, but one could equally counter-argue that the last two years in women’s basketball, especially the 2024 W season, have proven things are changing. The NBA viewership is going down on networks like ESPN (Adam Silver blamed the MLB World Series, among other reasons) and both hoop leagues have a new media deal with Disney, NBC, and Amazon of $76 billion over 11 years per the new CBA regulations.

Whereas Caitlin Clark has not yet spoken openly about the pay gap issues, A’ja Wilson had no such qualms even in her rookie year, the year LeBron James signed his record-breaking contract.

“Let me get back in my lane…”: When A’ja Wilson called out financial disparity in basketball

When news broke that LeBron James had signed a four-year, $154 million contract with the Lakers, A’ja Wilson was out at dinner with her father. She had been in the WNBA for less than two months but felt the need to call out the authorities. “154M ……….. must. be. nice. We over here looking for a M 🙃 but Lord, let me get back in my lane” the Aces player posted on X.

Understandably, it ignited a huge debate but Wilson did not back down. She had the support of her fellow players and even some NBA stars, and she continued the conversation in a July interview with Marie Claire. “I can scream at the top of my lungs, ‘I want my money in my bank account,’ but who are the people who are on foot that can get the job done?” Wilson said. “That’s where I lean to. That’s where I tap into the most: making sure that those people who are in those spaces understand, ‘No, this is something that you really want to invest in.'”

You know the league is in a sad state when almost all players are earning significantly more via brand endorsements than their actual jobs and what they do on the court. One of the biggest reasons Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart established their Unrivaled League was to help players earn more than they did in the W while staying in the country. If a league started by two active players can get investors, why not the W?