$76,535. That’s how much 2024 WNBA Draft’s top-pick Caitlin Clark will make in her rookie season with the Indiana Fever. $12.2 million. That’s how much 2023 NBA Draft’s top-pick Victor Wembenyama made in his rookie season with the San Antonio Spurs—a staggering 159 times more than Clark.

For her next three years, the NCAA leading basketball scorer will earn $78,066 in 2025, $85,873 in 2026, and $97,582 in 2027, which makes her total salary $338,056. Wembenyama’s total salary over four years will be $50 million. When the concerning numbers were released on April 16 this year, there was hardly anybody who wasn’t talking about the disparity. NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson tweeted, “These ladies deserve so much more … Praying for the day.”

US President Joe Biden also lent his voice to the cause. “Women in sports continue to push new boundaries and inspire us all. But right now we’re seeing that even if you’re the best, women are not paid their fair share. It’s time that we give our daughters the same opportunities as our sons and ensure women are paid what they deserve,” he tweeted. While WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert came out and explained that the figure is just a base and how Clark will have “the ability to make up to a half of a million dollars just in WNBA wages” in 2024, “with millions and millions of dollars in endorsements”, people were still not impressed.

And that includes WNBA icon Sheryl Swoopes. Despite a career spanning 14 years including four championships, three MVPs and three Olympic golds, Swoopes has also battled the same issues. Dubbed as the “Female Michael Jordan”, unfortunately her WNBA salary was nowhere close to the NBA legend. But before we get to that…

The Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer had some choice words when describing female basketball player’s debacle. During an appearance on the ‘Unapologetically Angel’ podcast with Angel Reese on September 27, the 53-year-old pointed out the one thing most female players don’t have within the league. “You know, retired players we don’t we don’t have a pension we don’t have health care,” surprisingly Reese. While she pointed she’s financially secure enough to avail that for herself, “I know there are a lot of retired players sure who don’t have healthare. They have it on the NBA side.” 

Further in the conversation, the veteran also provided a piece of advice to her 22-year-old host. Talking about the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA)—that will see top WNBA players triple their compensation to more than half a million, get travel, new child care, maternity and family planning benefits—Swoopes added, “For current players absolutely your focus should be on what you ladies need, what you should fight for what you deserve. But you also should think about your future cuz someday…you’re going to retire…and that’s something that I think would be very important…I don’t know if it’s going to be added. I think that’s really important. Especially, I mean there are a lot of great players that retire and aren’t able to have healthcare and are able to be financially stable.”

Now coming to the point of pay parity, Sheryl, in her long and iconic career, made a little over $335,000 during her time with the Houston Comets (1997-2007), Seattle Storm (2008) and Tulsa Shock (2011). While she also had an endorsement deal with Nike made her around $1.2 million richer in 1999 (in addition to other undisclosed figures over the years), it’s nowhere near to what Michael Jordan made in his career. The 6X NBA Champion and NBA Finals MVP’s net worth stands at a mind-boggling $3.5 billion according to Forbes—including salaries of around $90 million and $2.4 billion in endorsement deals with Nike, Hanes and Gatorade.

This leads us to the question: What leads to this huge disparity?

The Fight for Parity in WNBA Benefits

While the on-court skills of WNBA stars are undeniable, the league itself doesn’t seem to get the same treatment as the NBA. While NBA players enjoy pension plans, the WNBA’s benefits have only recently begun to improve through their latest collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

Although the new CBA allows the highest-paid WNBA players to potentially earn over $500,000 annually, the average salary remains far below that of NBA players, whose average compensation easily surpasses $9 million. 

The reason behind it all? Well, it is partly due to the difference in revenue generation and broadcasting deals. As per NBC, the NBA has a TV rights deal of $2.8 billion, while its female counterpart sits at $65 million. “The attendance is low. The television ratings are low. So it’s no shocker that there’s no money there for the women,” Fox Sports host Rob Parker said. However, things might soon take a positive turn, as per Ketra Armstrong, a sport management professor: “The new players coming into the WNBA coupled with the current stars of the league may be the catalyst the WNBA needs for more investment and better television rights.” 

It also highlights an ongoing issue in women’s sports. A formal pension plan for WNBA players would provide much-needed long-term stability. As WNBA continues to grow, spotlighting this issue is the only way to bring about real change!