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On March 31, news broke that Olivia Miles, who was once the projected No. 2 overall pick of the 2025 WNBA Draft, would not only be forgoing the draft to return for another NCAA season but transferring out of Notre Dame, with whom she just appeared in the Sweet Sixteen.
This came less than a week after UConn Huskies superstar Azzi Fudd announced that she’d also be playing one more NCAA season instead of declaring for the WNBA Draft.
These weren’t extraordinary decisions by any means, as players in all college sports sometimes return to school instead of going pro. But considering the ongoing narrative that many women’s college basketball players are making more because of the NCAA’s NIL rules than they would in the WNBA, many fans believe money is the main reason players like Miles and Fudd are making these choices.
Dallas Wings standout guard DiJonai Carrington addressed this directly with an April 1 X post that wrote, “This $$$ narrative with the W vs NCAA is sooooooo tired 😩 YES(!!!) we should (and WILL) get paid much higher salaries BUT you can still make that same $$, it’s just no longer called NIL money … it’s called ✨ endorsements ✨🙂”*sent with love*”.
This $$$ narrative with the W vs NCAA is sooooooo tired 😩 YES(!!!) we should (and WILL) get paid much higher salaries BUT you can still make that same $$, it’s just no longer called NIL money … it’s called ✨endorsements✨🙂 *sent with love*
— dιjonaι carrιngтon♛ (@DijonaiVictoria) April 1, 2025
A fan then responded by saying, “Thank you! Feel like 99.99% of us fans have no idea, some paint narratives that aren’t even there. Do you think staying in the NCAA is more about the upcoming bargaining agreement and how that’s expiring soon? Declare in 2026 with new agreement, etc.”
To which Carrington simply replied with, “Yep!!”
Yep!!
— dιjonaι carrιngтon♛ (@DijonaiVictoria) April 1, 2025
This fan answer is alluding to the ongoing negotiations for the WNBA’s next collective bargaining agreement (CBA), as the current one expires after the 2025 WNBA season.
The next CBA is expected to provide players with much higher base salaries. Therefore, if players like Fudd and Miles wait until 2026 to become rookies rather than do so in 2025, they’ll benefit from those new CBA salaries instead of being stuck with a four-year rookie deal that totals somewhere barely north of $300,000 (for example, Caitlin Clark’s current contract totals $338,056 for four years).
Hence why, NIL earnings aside, it makes all the sense (and cents) in the world for players to stay in college until the new CBA goes into effect. Hence Carrington’s sentiment.
