New Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers has already joined her new team after being drafted No. 1 overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
Bueckers showed she was worthy of the top pick after a successful five-year run at UConn, where she averaged 19.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game.
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The 23-year-old signed a four-year deal with the Wings and is set to make $78,831 during her rookie season in the WNBA.
That amount wasn’t up for negotiation — under the rookie salary scale system, players selected first through fourth in the draft are locked into that figure. The only difference for picks two through four is that their contracts include a team option for the fourth year.
Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers poses with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert.Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
The $78,831 salary in Year 1 may not just seem like a low number for professional sports; it is. Cooper Flagg, who recently wrapped his one season playing for the Duke Blue Devils, is widely projected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, scheduled for June.
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Whichever team lands Flagg — with the NBA Draft Lottery set for May 12 — he’s projected to earn $62.7 million over four years, averaging about $15.6 million per year, according to Front Office Sports.
Just like Bueckers, Flagg won’t be able to negotiate, as rookie contracts in the NBA are determined by draft position.
Once fans realized the difference between the top picks in the WNBA versus the NBA, they were quick to share their reactions on social media.
“It’s really lame,” one fan said. “NBA sucke sucke sucke whilst WNBA is actually growing and is an interesting landscape in comparison to (Expletive) Boring Association.”
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“I fully support women’s sports. I’m a girl dad. But we need to stop with these comparisons. The revenue gap is what’s actually crazy,” added a fan.
“Wow !!” another wrote.
“It’s not crazy enough. The wnba doesn’t make a profit. And the nba does,” one said.
“WNBA is growing faster than ever so hopefully that pay rate grows over the next few years,” another added.
“All about sponsors,” another said.
Related: Local Dallas Residents Receive Big Paige Bueckers News Before WNBA Season
