Caitlin Clark’s Contract With The Indiana Fever Is Less Than 1% Of Her NBA Counterpart’s
She was the number one draft pick in the WNBA 2024, but Caitlin Clark’s contract with the Indiana Fever is nothing in comparison to her NBA counterpart, despite drawing record crowds while playing for Iowa Hawkeyes and being one of the greatest college basketball players of all time.
Clark was born on January 22, 2002, and as a student at Dowling Catholic High School, she was named a McDonald’s All-American and rated the fourth-best player in her class by ESPN. In her freshman season with Iowa University, she led the NCAA Division I in scoring and earned All-American honors. As a sophomore, Clark was a unanimous first-team All-American and became the first women’s player to lead Division I in points and assists in a single season.
In her final college game, Clark finished with a game-high 30 points (on 10-for-28 shooting) to go with eight rebounds and five assists but it wasn’t enough to secure the victory. “It’s really hard to win these things,” Clark said, per the Washington Post. “I think I probably know that better than most people by now. To be so close twice, it definitely hurts. But at the same time, we were right there. We battled. We took down some really great teams to get back to this point and [did] something that’s really hard to do.”
She later tweeted: “Words cannot express my love for my teammates, coaches, fans and our university – Thanks for making my dreams come true. Wearing Iowa across my chest the last four years has been an honor. This place will always be home.”
On April 15, 2024, the all-star was drafted by the Indiana Fever as the number one overall pick in the WNBA Draft, but Caitlin Clark’s contract once again draws attention to the disparity between male and female athletes.
Caitlin Clark’s contract
Caitlin Clark‘s contract with the Indiana Fever means she’ll sign a four-year deal worth a total of $338,056, according to the WNBA’s CBA. The top four picks are allotted the same amount, meaning Clark, Cameron Brink, Kamilla Cardoso, and Rickea Jackson will each receive the same amount of money. Here’s the annual salary breakdown:
- 2024: $76,535
- 2025: $78,066
- 2026: $85,873
- 2027 (fourth-year option): $97,582
This of course doesn’t include the potential millions she could and likely will earn in endorsements in addition to her partnerships with Nike in October 2022; State Farm a year later; and Gatorade in December 2023. At Iowa, Clark had college name, image, and likeness deals reportedly worth more than an estimated $3 million, according to ON3, and those deals will likely follow her to the WNBA.
Despite speculation, Clark is not taking a pay cut to go pro, but it was speculation that came about at the time of Clark’s drafting. “It’s a bad narrative,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said, per the Washington Post.
“Pre-Caitlin Clark, I’ve been trying to correct the media that NIL deals, when they’re national sponsors like Caitlin and Angel Reese and Cameron Brink, those are just called endorsements in the pros. I just find it funny that nobody ever said this about LeBron James or Michael Jordan, who made a lot more money with their endorsements than they did in their salary in the NBA. Nobody ever said that. Now, all of a sudden, because it’s women’s sports, people are saying that. That’s absolutely untrue when you have these national brands.”
How does that compare to male athletes?
For NBA number 1 draft picks, Caitlin Clark’s contract is in stark comparison. In 2023, Victor Wembanyama signed a four-year, US$55.2 million rookie contract with the San Antonio Spurs, with an annual salary of $13,793,692. That makes Caitlin Clark’s contract around 0.55 percent of her male counterpart’s.
The NBA is reportedly worth $10 billion, compared to the WBNA which has been valued at $60 million, so there’s a long way to go towards gender equality.
Clark was one of 14 players invited to attend USA Basketball’s training camp in Cleveland ahead of the Paris Olympics, but she couldn’t participate because Iowa was still competing in the NCAA tournament. The team is going for their seventh consecutive gold medal—they’ve won gold in every Olympics since the 1996 Atlanta Games—and are the favorites going into Paris, and putting Clark on the Olympic team would certainly attract viewers.
“Anytime you’re invited to do anything for USA Basketball, it’s a tremendous honor,” Clark said during a press conference, per USA Today. “For me it was a win-win, either doing that or this. Obviously, this was where my focus was. I wanted to get back to the Final Four with this group.”
She also addressed Olympic team speculation ahead of the Iowa final. “You always want to grow up and be on the Olympic team, but lucky for me, I have the opportunity of possibly not doing that because I want to be at the Final Four playing basketball with my team. But if not, that’s where I’ll be. People that are on that roster are people that I idolize and have idolized growing up. Just to be extended a camp invite is something you have to be proud of and celebrate and enjoy,” she said.
Related: The WNBA Salaries of 2024 & How Much Each Player Makes
