The WNBA attendance numbers and television ratings continue to improve, corporate sponsorships expand, and players are finally seeing long-overdue financial progress across a myriad of areas, including higher salaries, better charter flights and accommodations, and overall league investment in their brands.
Stars are now marketed globally, and in recent years, rookies have entered the league already having name recognition from the broader sports world. The progress has made it easier to forget just how different the league looked not long ago.
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In the 2000s, even players performing at the highest level faced financial insecurity, leading some to play overseas just to be fairly compensated. Everyone struggled, including one of the league’s best players ever, Candace Parker.
Speaking on the Post Moves podcast, Parker shared stories that illustrate how undervalued her pay was during the late 2000s, even though she was already one of the league’s most recognizable stars.
Parker’s $12.34 WNBA check
Parker was drafted as the No. 1 overall pick by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2008 and was already a household name from being a national star at Tennessee. Like fellow No. 1 picks Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers, one would expect Parker to have been fairly compensated — especially considering she was drafted by a Los Angeles team, a market already more popular than some of her peers.
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However, reality was far different.
Parker reportedly signed a $44,000 rookie contract — pennies compared with NBA rookies, where even the 30th pick in the 2008 draft earned $797,600 in their first year. Add taxes on top of that, and fans could see just how big a monetary gap there really is between the two leagues.
“The first check I got, though, I’m not going to lie, when I got to the WNBA, I was like, who the hell is FICA? Because FICA taking way too much money,” Parker said.
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The Federal Insurance Contributions Act, or FICA, is responsible for deducting money from each paycheck to increase credits for Social Security benefits — a standard practice that still caught Parker off guard.
She didn’t do her finances any favors later in her rookie season, when she became involved in a notorious on-court brawl during a game against the Detroit Shock at the Palace of Auburn Hills — the very same venue where the “Malice at the Palace” had taken place.
Eleven players, including Parker, were suspended and fined for the brawl. Though no records reveal how much the fines were, she hinted at how hefty and costly the fine and her one-game suspension were.
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“When we got in that fight in Detroit and I was suspended for the Connecticut game the next day, I wish I would have had a camera phone to take a picture. I still had a Blackberry at that time, but my check was $12.34,” recalled Parker.
Parker had better years ahead in the league, winning multiple MVPs and three championships before retiring in 2024 as one of the highest earners in the league’s history. She reportedly earned $1,062,500 from her last eight seasons in the league.
The fight continues
Despite the recent growth, players are still fighting to be paid more today. While the minimum salary has now increased to $66,000 and the maximum contract a player could receive is almost $250,000, there is still a wide gap between what players deserve and what the WNBA is paying them.
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In 2024, the WNBA saw a revenue increase of over 200 percent from 2022. A large part comes from the increasing popularity players like Clark, A’Ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum have brought to the league. Yet the league has not really adjusted salaries to the increase in revenue.
The league and the players are set to negotiate a new CBA, but recent weeks have not been promising, with the threat of a lockout looming larger by the day. While the WNBA has grown larger today than it was in Parker’s days, it’s still evident that the players, whose talent and sacrifices have built the league into what it is today, continue to fight for compensation that truly reflects their value.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Feb 7, 2026, where it first appeared in the WNBA section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
