One proposed change to the WNBA’s CBA could force the Indiana Fever into an impossible choice: reward their established stars or secure their future with Caitlin Clark.
Still unwilling to come to terms on the revenue-sharing model, the WNBA is now trying to sweeten the bargain by throwing in a special gift for the rookies. In the new proposal, the players with rookie contracts who were first or second team all-league would become eligible to sign a maximum contract in their fourth year. And that is exactly where basketball insider Rachel DeMita feels things get a little dicey for Indiana.
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“Caitlin Clark is eligible to be that max contract player because of this new rule in 2027. So that is the player if you’re the Indiana Fever, if you’re any franchise, for that matter. I would assume Caitlin Clark would get that priority to become your max contract player, your franchise player. She is already the face of the league,” said DeMita, but then there’s more to the story.
“There are two top players who will be eligible for a max contract this season. This season, both Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston could become max contract salary players in 2026. But here’s the catch: only one player currently knows how the salary structure is that could get the max contract. So this is where it exactly starts getting tricky for some of these teams,” concludes DeMita.
This was not the case earlier as players had to wait several years before becoming eligible for a “supermax” or max contract, but now times have changed. You only need to prove yourself early; a path to a max contract opens up. The salary cap in the first year would be $5.75 million, up 280% from last year’s $1.5 million. That would grow to $8.5 million by the sixth year of the deal.
This would result in maximum salaries increasing by more than $1 million from $249,000 to $1.3 million, and average salaries increasing from $120,000 to $540,000 in the first year, leading to a rapid increase in earnings.
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Mitchell and Boston are also entering the stage where they can command the league’s top salary tier, but the WNBA’s salary structure and cap limitations mean that a team can’t realistically make that dream a reality. So what happens in that scenario?
The Fever will have to prioritize which star gets the max contract, and that would invariably mean the other star will have to settle for a lower-tier contract to keep the team balanced financially.
So it’s not as simple as it looks, and would lead the Fever management to make some tough choices. Speaking of choices, former NFL running back LeSean McCoy made his choice for the most influential woman in sports clear, decisively picking Caitlin Clark over tennis legend Serena Williams.
LeSean McCoy Picks Caitlin Clark Over Serena Williams
Former NFL running back LeSean McCoy makes his stance clear when it comes to picking his most influential women in sports. McCoy lays it down point-blank, no hesitation whatsoever, and makes his pick, choosing WNBA and Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark over multi-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams.
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“I think Serena Williams was great. But who was watching women’s basketball? You weren’t. I wasn’t… Then we get this girl like Steph Curry, and everybody watches it to this day. Women’s basketball is looked at like the NBA, like the NFL. They’ve got their own channels now on ESPN. When was the last time you heard people talking about women’s basketball on TV? Now they’re going to talk about Luka, and they’re going to talk about Caitlin Clark,” McCoy has said.
McCoy’s logic clearly emphasizes the effect Caitlin has on visibility. She made WNBA mainstream courtesy of her stylistic play, just like Conor McGregor made the UFC into a global phenomenon.
Just CC’s presence skyrocketed the WNBA’s earnings, generating more than $1 billion in value. She boosted the audience numbers coming to watch the games, right from 6,615 in 2023 to 9,807. McCoy states that women’s tennis was already established even before Serena came in. Sure, the 23-time Grand Slam winner set a benchmark, but before her, there were Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Chris Evert, who all drew in crowds.
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Caitlin did it on her own, and that is what makes her achievement truly special. Well, considering McCoy’s opinion, would it be right to assume that Indiana would give the max contract to Caitlin Clark?
