Napheesa Collier Sounds Off on Caitlin Clark’s ‘Insane’ WNBA Pay Gap

Now that the 2025 WNBA season is in the rearview mirror, the league’s attention has turned toward the ongoing negotiations between the league office and the players’ association for the next Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which is supposed to be instituted for the 2026 season.

The initial deadline for both sides to come to terms is October 31. While this might sound concerning, given that October 31 is four days away, there was always a slim chance that a new CBA could be finalized by this date. Instead, the two sides will agree to extend the deadline so that negotiations can continue in good faith, perhaps through the end of this year or even into 2026.

The biggest aspect of the new CBA regards the salaries that players will receive. While it’s clear that the league is going to increase the current WNBA pay that players are subject to, the question is just how much the new max salary will be raised to, and whether this amount will be tied to the WNBA’s revenue share, as it is currently not at all.

These ongoing negotiations became a mainstream story in the sports world after Napheesa Collier put WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert on blast during an exit interview at the end of September.

At one point in her passionate tirade, Collier claimed that Engelbert had said to her earlier this year, ‘Caitlin [Clark] should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court, because without the platform that the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything.'”

While Engelbert has since denied making these comments, what Collier said still went supremely viral, especially because Caitlin Clark is the biggest name in women’s basketball by far.

Napheesa Collier’s Blunt Comment About Caitlin Clark’s WNBA Pay Situation Speaks Volumes

Collier took her sentiment about Clark’s WNBA pay one step further when speaking with Glamour Magazine for a feature story that was published on October 27.

“We are being so grossly almost taken advantage of, and it should be illegal,” Collier said. “The amount of money that Caitlin Clark has made the league is insane, and she’s getting 0% of it because we have no rev share. She gets less than $80,000 a year, and she’s bringing in, like, hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s insane.”

Collier calling attention to the massive gap between what Caitlin Clark makes and what she brings to the WNBA in terms of revenue is only going to increase the pressure Engelbert and the league office already face to do their players right.

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