For the first time in league history, some WNBA players will earn more than $1 million in a single season, including former Iowa State women’s basketball star Bridget Carleton.
In March, the WNBA and its players struck a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement. Among the several groundbreaking elements of the historic CBA, it paved the way for massive pay raises for players. The team salary cap, which limits how much each franchise can spend on player salaries, more than quadrupled, jumping from $1.5 million last year to $7 million this season. League minimums for salaries were increased from $66,000 to $300,000. With that, the average player salary went from between $105,000-$120,000 to about $600,000.
The changes have pushed top-end pay into uncharted territory: 31 players are scheduled to make at least $1 million in 2026. If you’re curious, the first players to earn $1 million a season in the NBA were Moses Malone and Bill Walton during the 1979-80 season (adjusted to $4.4 million in 2026).
Bridget Carleton WNBA contract
The former Cyclone was the first selection in the April 3 WNBA expansion draft by the Portland Fire. She signed a three-year deal at the max with the expansion team on April 11, according to ESPN’s Alexa Philippou.
Carleton’s contract is a three-year, $3,748,500 deal, according to Spotrac, which means she’s projected to earn $1,190,000 in 2026.
Her 2025 salary was $125,000, according to Spotrac.
Bridget Carleton is among the highest-paid WNBA players
These are the highest-paid players in the WNBA, according to salary data pulled from Spotrac and Her Hoop Stats.
Carleton will make the same as former WNBA MVPs, Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones, in 2026. Carleton is one of five players on the million‑dollar list — Kennedy Burke, Jessica Shepard, Temi Fágbénlé and Marina Mabrey — who haven’t received All-WNBA or All-Star honors in their careers prior to the 2026 season.
What is Caitlin Clark’s WNBA salary?
The new WNBA CBA also revamps the rookie contract scale, significantly boosting pay for top draft picks and raising existing rookie contracts league-wide. This gives Clark, the 2024 No. 1 pick, a roughly $530,000 salary in 2026, according to ESPN.
The new CBA also creates a pathway for rookies to reach max contracts if they earn MVP or All-WNBA honors. Because Clark was named First‑Team All‑WNBA as a rookie, she can become eligible for a maximum contract in the fourth year of her rookie deal in 2027.
Bridget Carleton WNBA stats
Carleton has played seven seasons in the WNBA, almost all of that time with Minnesota. Iowa State women’s basketball’s No. 4 all-time scorer averaged 6.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 0.8 steals for the Lynx in 2025 and started nearly all games for the franchise over the past two seasons.
Though she was seen as mostly a role player alongside All-Stars in Napheesa Collier, Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride in Minnesota, Carleton is expected to take on a much bigger role given that Portland took her first in the expansion draft and rewarded her with the max deal.
She had 13 points, four assists, one rebound and one steal across 30 minutes in Portland’s 98–83 loss to the Chicago Sky on May 9. The Fire face the New York Liberty on Tuesday, May 12, at 9 p.m., and fans can stream the game with a WNBA League Pass subscription.
USA TODAY women’s sports reporter Mitchell Northam contributed to this report.
Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 31 WNBA players now make $1 million or more, including an ISU alumna
Reporting by Cooper Worth, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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