South Carolina women's basketball: Rising WNBA salaries could change college recruiting

“Stop wasting my time/You know what I want
You know what I need/Or maybe you don’t
Do I have to come right flat out and tell you everything?
Gimme some money”

• “Gimme Some Money,” Spinal Tap

The WNBA begins its 30th season on Friday, May 8, and with it comes a new era of women’s basketball.

The debut of the WNBA in 1997 (and the now-defunct ABL a year earlier) meant that for the first time, the best American women’s basketball players could make a living playing the game without having to move overseas. It was transformational for the players, but it didn’t necessarily change things on the college level.

The WNBA has seen unprecedented growth in popularity in recent years. With it came a new collective bargaining agreement that drastically increased player salaries and benefits beginning this season. It is the most transformational agreement since the inaugural season, and this time it is also transformational for the college game.

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Changes (there’s a TL;DR at the end if you want to skip it)

With limited roster openings, only a handful of new players entered the league each year. Even those who did usually still played overseason to supplement their income. Making the WNBA wasn’t a legitimate goal for most college players.

When the NCAA allowed athletes to earn NIL money, young players became more focused on immediate paydays than future WNBA salaries. The most popular players could earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in NIL.

It was never true that players had to take a pay cut when they went to the WNBA. That was an internet fallacy made up as an insult to the league. Endorsement deals worth that much money carry over to the pros, plus they were getting paid a base salary. 

But it was true that the life-changing money started in college. College viewership still dwarfs WNBA viewership, giving players a built-in platform to build their personal brand.

WNBA salaries were low enough that the big money came from endorsements, and college basketball did a better job of positioning players to cash in on those endorsements than the WNBA. Now the situation has flipped. 

Beginning this season, the minimum annual WNBA salary is $270,000, which is $21,000 more than last season’s supermax contract. Average salaries are projected to be $583,000 per year, and the supermax contract is worth $1.4 million this year, which is almost equal to last season’s total salary cap. The salary cap is $7 million this season and will go up each year.

It’s not just the salaries that have gone up. Two years ago, there were, at most, 144 total roster spots. However, most teams only carried 11 players, so it was closer to 132. The WNBA is phasing in six expansion teams over six years and requiring, and is requiring teams to fill all 12 roster spots. They can also sign two developmental players who don’t count toward the roster limit.

That means that in 2030, there will be 216 roster spots plus 32 developmental spots. That’s over 100 total positions that need to be filled in the next four years.

“You’re coming out at a great time,” Dawn Staley told soon-to-be first-round pick Raven Johnson in March. “Good thing you came back, Raven. Really. It’s lucrative.”

(As promised, TL;DR: Not only are WNBA contracts worth significantly more money now, but there are far more contracts to go around.)

How the WNBA impacts college basketball

During the NCAA Tournament in Sacramento, Staley was asked what recruiting conversations consist of in the current era.

“How much is it going to cost us? That’s the conversation. You’ve got to lead with that. Because you don’t really want to waste your time. You either are going to have enough to pay players or you don’t. And you move on,” she said. “I won’t say I lead with that question, but I get to it fairly quickly. After the pleasantries are done, you have to get to the question, so you’re not wasting your time and spinning your wheels on somebody that you can’t afford.”

In recent years, it was in the best interest of recruits to ask for as much money as possible, for the reasons explained above. Now, it is in the best interest of recruits to play the long game (not the easiest thing to get 18-year-olds to understand).

College programs work hard to keep their rev share numbers a secret, but women’s basketball is supposed to get 8% of $20.5 million, or about $1.6 million. That is a lot closer to the old WNBA salary cap than the current one.

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Despite the rules, that $1.6 million is more of a starting point than a cap, as programs find creative workarounds or just ignore it completely. But it is still a long way to go to get to $7 million. 

There is no database of what college players are being paid, but there are a few reported numbers that can provide a guideline. Several programs dropped out of her recruitment when Oklahoma’s Aaliyah Chavez reportedly asked for $1 million, suggesting that amount is on the very high end. 

According to sources, one of the top players in this year’s transfer portal asked for $500,000, the same as WNBA top pick Azzi Fudd is making. Only two programs came close to her asking price, which tells us that is still on the high end.

That means that for the vast majority of players, a future WNBA contract is what offers the big money. Instead of a quick payday, they should focus on being prepared for the WNBA. That brings us to the trickle-down effect the new WNBA CBA has on college basketball. 

WNBA teams prefer players from pro-style programs who have been prepared to step in and contribute immediately.

Talent rules the WNBA Draft, of course. But when talent is even, there are a couple of tie breakers. WNBA teams are hesitant to draft players who have transferred multiple times, but they like the way some programs prepare players. 

Of the 38 picks in 2025, only three transferred more than once: Hailey Van Lith (1st round, pick 11), Aaronette Vonleh (3rd round, pick 31), and Zaay Green (3rd round, pick 32). Vonleh and Green never appeared in a WNBA game, and Van Lith was waived after one season.

In 2026, out of 45 picks, only four players transferred more than once: Marta Suarez (2nd round, pick 16), Latasha Lattimore 2nd round, pick 21), Janiah Barker (2nd round, pick 29), and Taylor Bigby (3rd round, pick 37). Suarez and Lattimore have already been waived. 

Who does it benefit?

There are certain programs that WNBA teams trust to produce pros. They are willing to take chances on players from programs like UConn, South Carolina, UCLA, and Southern Cal, and less so on Tennessee, Texas, and Oklahoma, teams that run very collegiate systems. 

It played out in this year’s WNBA draft, when Oklahoma’s Raegan Beers and Richmond’s Maggie Doogan went undrafted. On the other hand, Indiana picked Raven Johnson in the first round this year because it knew what it was getting with the former Gamecock.

“Defensively, she’s elite. That’s something you never really worry about,” head coach Stephanie White said. “We’ve drafted a lot of South Carolina players here in Indiana, going back to Tiffany Mitchell. You always know that they are going to be ready on the defensive end of the floor.”

When Sania Feagin made the Sparks’ roster last season, the team cited the lessons she picked up at South Carolina as the reason.

“She did so good,” general manager Raegan Pebley said. “We told her, Coach Staley, she made this team because she had great practice habits. She knew how to talk, she knew how to compete, she knew how to listen and apply.”

This year, Los Angeles picked Ta’Niya Latson, another former Gamecock, albeit one who played her first three seasons at Florida State. Again, Pebley cited Latson’s willingness to learn at South Carolina as one of the reasons they wanted Latson.

“She’s an elite scorer and playmaker,” she said. “Watching how she carried that from Florida State over to South Carolina, not just in Dawn Staley’s program but in a powerhouse conference like the SEC, with especially the guards in that league, it was impressive watching her adapt her game as the season went on.”

You can bet that right after the money talk, or maybe even during it, Staley is telling recruits that South Carolina puts players in the league, where they can make more money. That message seems to have resonated with the Gamecocks’ two highest-profile recruits.

“I told her my goals. I have, you know, the highest expectations out of myself, and you know, she maxed that out with me,” Jerzy Robinson said. “She said, which was something I remember, she said, I’m only going to add to you, I’m not gonna take away. And so that was super big for me when picking a college.”

Oliviyah Edwards flipped her commitment from Tennessee to South Carolina and told ESPN that the pro-style environment was a big reason.

“I know I’ll be pushed every single day, and being surrounded by that kind of energy and support means everything to me,” she said.

The rich players are getting richer, and the rich programs are getting richer.

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