Alexa PhilippouMar 19, 2026, 09:10 PM ET
- Covers women's college basketball and the WNBA
- Previously covered UConn and the WNBA Connecticut Sun for the Hartford Courant
- Stanford graduate and Baltimore native with further experience at the Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times and Cincinnati Enquirer
The pending WNBA collective bargaining agreement will fast-track the ability for players on rookie-scale contracts to make maximum and supermax salaries, sources told ESPN.
The new provision, called "EPIC," allows players to renegotiate their fourth-year salary and earn the standard max in that year if they were previously named all-WNBA first- or second-team, or the supermax if they previously won MVP.
For example, 2024 Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark -- who made $78,066 in 2025 -- is poised to see her salary jump to $530,000 in 2026, a source said. She could earn the projected max of $1.3 million in 2027 as a previous all-WNBA player. She could then sign for a $1.7 million supermax in 2028.
The new provision would also be applicable to younger star players such as Aliyah Boston, who was all-WNBA in 2024 and is max eligible in 2026, and Paige Bueckers, who was all-WNBA in 2025 and is max eligible in 2028.
In the previous agreement, a player could earn the supermax salary only following the completion of her four-year rookie-scale contract.
The league and the players' union reached a verbal agreement on the terms of a new CBA early Wednesday. Under the new CBA, sources told ESPN, the salary cap will start at $7 million (up from $1.5 million in 2025) with the supermax starting at $1.4 million (was $249,244 in 2025).
The average salary will be about $583,000 ($120,000 in 2025), while the minimum salary has five tiers based on years of service, ranging from $270,000 to $300,000 ($66,079 in 2025), sources told ESPN, confirming a report from Front Office Sports.
A few other details of the new CBA terms have emerged.
Sources confirmed earlier reports that beginning in 2027, a player can only be cored who has six or fewer years of service. The core -- the WNBA's equivalent of the NFL's franchise tag -- was something the players sought to eliminate entirely during these negotiations.
Housing will also be provided for all players in the first three years of the deal; after that, it will be made available only for those making $500,000 or less for 2029 and 2030. After 2030, housing will only be provided to developmental players.
Housing emerged as a flashpoint in negotiations after the league initially did not include it in its proposals. Teams have provided housing since the league's first CBA in 1999.
