The pending WNBA collective bargaining agreement will fast-track the ability for players on rookie-scale contracts to make maximum and supermax salaries, sources told ESPN.
The new provision, called "EPIC" (Exceptional Performance on Initial Contract), allows players to renegotiate what would have been the fourth year of their rookie deal and agree to a three-year contract extension. They can earn the max in that fourth year if they were previously named All-WNBA first team or second team or the supermax if they previously won MVP. Those players would not be eligible for the core designation following that extension.
For example, 2024 Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark -- who made $78,066 in 2025 -- is poised to see her salary jump to $530,000 in 2026, a source said. She could earn the projected max of $1.3 million in 2027 as a previous All-WNBA player and the projected supermax of $1.7 million in 2028, the first year of her extended term.
The new provision would also be applicable to younger star players such as Aliyah Boston, who was All-WNBA in 2024 and is max eligible in 2026, and Paige Bueckers, who was All-WNBA in 2025 and is max eligible in 2028.
In the previous agreement, a player could earn the supermax salary only following the completion of a four-year rookie-scale contract.
The league and the players' union reached a verbal agreement on the terms of a new CBA early Wednesday. Under the new CBA, sources told ESPN, the salary cap will start at $7 million (up from $1.5 million in 2025) with the supermax starting at $1.4 million (was $249,244 in 2025).
The average salary will be about $583,000 ($120,000 in 2025), while the minimum salary has five tiers based on years of service, ranging from $270,000 to $300,000 ($66,079 in 2025), sources told ESPN, confirming a report from Front Office Sports.
A few other details of the new CBA terms have emerged.
Sources confirmed earlier reports that beginning in 2027, only a player with six or fewer years of service can be cored. The core, which is the WNBA's equivalent of the NFL's franchise tag, was something the players sought to eliminate entirely during these negotiations.
Housing will also be provided for all players in the first three years of the deal; after that, it will be made available only for those making $500,000 or less for 2029 and 2030. After 2030, housing will be provided only to developmental players.
Housing emerged as a flash point in negotiations after the league initially did not include it in its proposals. Teams have provided housing since the league's first CBA in 1999.
