With the first overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, the Indiana Fever selected former Iowa Hawkeyes player Caitlin Clark, as was predicted. It is expected that the two-time AP College Basketball Player of the Year would ink a four-year contract with the Fever, tying her to the team until 2028.
Clark has the greatest salary of any player in her selection class, yet her WNBA rookie contract is pitiful when compared to her NBA competitors’. The guard’s salary in his first four seasons in Indiana will be a reasonable $338,000. The first choice in the 2023 NBA draft, Victor Wembanyama, has agreed to a four-year, $55.2 million contract, according to Sportac.
Breaking down Caitlin Clark's rookie salary with the Fever 💰 pic.twitter.com/Iy8OrpTXuX
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) April 16, 2024
It’s no secret that the NBA makes a country mile more money than the WNBA. The NBA makes $10 billion a season, according to WSN, while the WNBA makes $60 million. There is a noticeable disparity between income and purchasing power, which is reflected in Clark’s contract value.
Trolls about Caitlin Clark’s pay are made by NBA fans
Despite the public knowledge of the revenue disparity between the NBA and WNBA, fans continued to make jokes about Caitlin Clark’s low yearly pay on social media. The guard’s first-year pay was likened to Rudy Gobert‘s fine on X, the previous Twitter platform, by a meme aggregator account:
Caitlin Clark's first-year WNBA salary:
$76,535Rudy Gobert's fine for doing the money sign at a ref:
$100,000 pic.twitter.com/TktDClPjt6— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) April 16, 2024
Caitlin Clark's first-year WNBA salary:
$76,535
James Harden’s fine for calling Morey a liar:
$100,000 pic.twitter.com/7pFr6jvDGn
— Hater Report (@HaterReport_) April 16, 2024
LeBron James daily salary – $135,648
Caitlin Clark’s contract: pic.twitter.com/WiyDaIs5k8
— Noah Buono (BAW-NOH) 🤌 (@BuonoBall) April 16, 2024
Even though Clark has a low wage in the WNBA, it’s important to remember that she’s one of the most recognizable female athletes in America and has a sizable portfolio of endorsement deals. The former Hawkeye standout made almost $3.1 million in NIL transactions in 2023, according to ON3. Clark might end up being the driving force behind the WNBA’s surge in earnings and popularity. She may provide the NBA the same impetus that Michael Jordan gave it in the 1990s, helping it grow into the massive organization that it is now.
