WNBA Draft: Azzi Fudd’s rookie salary will be 6 times greater than last year’s No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers thanks to new CBA

The WNBA’s historic collective bargaining agreement led to players getting a big pay day ahead of the 2026 season. The start of a chaotic free agency period has led to more and more players getting million-dollar salaries, after years of players only sometimes cracking $200,000 per year.

That pay raise extends to the incoming rookies as well. The 45 players drafted by the league on Monday will receive significant six-figure salaries in their first year in the league — a far cry from the salaries that rookies used to receive.

The distinction between the pre- and post-CBA rookie salaries is most obvious through the No. 1 overall picks from the past two years: Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers, who were both selected by the Dallas Wings.

Bueckers, who was picked first last year, earned $78,831 in her rookie season with the Wings; Fudd, who was selected first overall this year, will earn $500,000. Fudd’s first-year salary is more than 6 times as much as Bueckers, with only one year between the two UConn teammates getting drafted.

Here are the scaled salaries for the top 10 picks in 2025, via Sportrac:

1. Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings — $78,831 ($348,198 total value, under the old CBA)

2. Dominique Malonga, Seattle Storm — $78,831

3. Sonia Citron, Washington Mystics — $78,831

4. Kiki Iriafen, Washington Mystics — $78,831

5. Justė Jocytė, Golden State Valkyries — $75,643 (did not end up joining the team for 2025 season)

6. Georgia Amoore, Washington Mystics — $75,643

7. Aneesah Morrow, Connecticut Sun — $75,643

8. Saniya Rivers, Connecticut Sun — $75,643

9. Sarah Ashlee Barker, Los Angeles Sparks — $72,455

10. Ajša Sivka, Chicago Sky — $72,455 (did not end up joining team for 2025 season)

And here are the salaries for this year’s picks, via Sportrac:

1. Azzi Fudd, Dallas Wings — $500,000 ($2,238,360 total value)

2. Olivia Miles, Minnesota Lynx — $466,913 ($2,090,240 total value)

3. Awa Fam Thiam, Seattle Storm — $436,016 ($1,951,923 total value)

4. Lauren Betts, Washington Mystics — $407,163 ($1,822,756 total value)

5. Gabriela Jaquez, Chicago Sky — $380,219 ($1,702,135 total value)

6. Kiki Rice, Toronto Tempo — $355,058 ($1,589,494 total value)

7. Iyana Martín Carrión, Portland Fire — $331,563 ($1,484,317 total value)

8. Flau’jae Johnson, Seattle Storm — $309,622 ($1,386,092 total value)

9. Angela Dugalić, Washington Mystics — $289,133 ($1,294,367 total value)

10. Raven Johnson, Indiana Fever — $289,133 ($1,294,367 total value)

Under the new CBA, picks nine through 15 from the 2026 Draft earn the same amount ($289,133 in their first year); all other players drafted in the second or third rounds earn $270,000.

To put that in even more perspective: The average rookie salary across the 12 first-round picks last year was $75,643. This year, across the 15 first-rounders, it’s $347,365.

The players that are still on rookie contracts will also be getting a significant pay bump. Bueckers, for example, will earn $500,000 this season — the same as Fudd — and go up to $550,000 next season. She has a club option in the fourth year of her deal; if Dallas takes it, the guard’s salary will rise to $621,500 in 2028, per Sportrac.