Faculty basketball celebrity Caitlin Clark is ready to soar to new heights within the WNBA — however her rookie contract will see her pocket a mere fraction of the tens of millions her male counterparts have cashed in on the court docket.
The College of Iowa legend, who has already made historical past because the NCAA Division I basketball’s total prime scorer, sealed a contract with the Indiana Fever after she was chosen because the No. 1 total choose within the WNBA draft Monday.
The contract will see Clark earn $338,056 over the course of 4 years, in line with the WNBA’s collective bargaining settlement.
Beneath the 2024 WNBA rookie scale for the No. 1 – 4 draft picks, she’ll earn a base wage of $76,535 for her first 12 months, $78,066 the second 12 months, $85,873 the third, and a fourth 12 months possibility of $97,582.
Regardless of her unprecedented star energy, Clark’s wage is only a sliver of the eye-popping quantity male athletes make within the NBA.
WNBA draft picks No. 2-4 — Stanford’s Cameron Brink who went to the Los Angeles Sparks, South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso with the Chicago Sky, Tennessee’s Rickea Jackson additionally with the Sparks — will make the identical pay as Clark.
For comparability, San Antonio Spurs rookie star Victor Wembanyama — the No. 1 choose in final 12 months’s NBA draft — secured a $55 million four-year contract that noticed him pocket $12.1 million in his first season, in line with athlete contract tracker Spotrac.
Although Clark will seemingly rake in way more earnings by way of endorsements and sponsorships, outraged simmered on social media over the obtrusive wage disparity between the WNBA and NBA.
“TODAY” present host Hoda Kotb mentioned Tuesday morning: “They’ve already offered out video games. She had the very best rankings, her groups and the Closing 4 had the very best rankings — larger than the World Sequence, larger than the NBA. So, I used to be like, what’s she going to receives a commission? As a result of lastly, you may get an actual paycheck. Then I noticed it and was like, this will’t be proper.”
Co-host Jenna Bush Hager added: “Actually the hole is so jarring … We’re speaking about equal pay. That ain’t even shut.”
They famous that issues will seemingly change sooner or later as video games have already offered out and viewership, which has traditionally lagged behind the NBA, has soared, partially on account of Clark’s celeb.
Even male athletes have chimed in on the hole.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson shared a put up about Clark’s pay on X, including: “These women deserve a lot extra … Praying for the day.”
“To the folks saying it doesn’t matter what Caitlin Clarks wage is as a result of she might be making tens of millions by way of endorsement, it truly does matter,” one consumer on X wrote.
“Presumably she’ll make financial institution on endorsements however Caitlin Clark’s WNBA wage is lower than that of a union nurse, trainer, or cop,” one other added.
Journalist Lisa Ling wrote on Instagram: “Steph Curry makes extra per recreation than what Caitlin Clark is making for 4 years! With the toll sports activities and journey tackle girls’s our bodies, is that this even a residing wage? I do know WNBA video games haven’t introduced in comparable numbers by any stretch of the creativeness, however that is disgraceful. Do higher for all of our girls athletes!”
The combat for extra equitable pay in girls’s basketball has been an extended one.
“From a wage standpoint, it’d be nice for the ladies to have the ability to earn more money,” WNBA legend Lisa Leslie mentioned in an October 2022 episode of “The Store: Uninterrupted” in a dialog with fellow basketball stars LeBron James and Draymond Inexperienced.
“It’s plenty of work — it’s plenty of laborious work. I believe I noticed one thing that mentioned one participant that makes possibly $12 million on an NBA workforce can cowl the entire WNBA’s salaries. And in order that’s form of loopy,” she added.
The WNBA didn’t instantly reply to an NBC Information request for remark.
