A’ja Wilson will earn $1.4 million in 2026. That is the maximum salary any player can collect under the WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement, and it is seven times what she earned one year ago.
The Las Vegas Aces center signed a three-year, $5 million supermax extension in April 2026, first reported by ESPN and confirmed across league sources. It is the richest contract in the 30-year history of the league. The timing matters: Wilson was voted an All-Star starter this month ahead of the July 25 game at Chicago’s United Center, and she is currently pacing the WNBA in scoring at 25.7 points per game.
Where Does A’ja Wilson’s Money Actually Come From?
Three streams, and only one of them is her salary.
The first is the Aces contract. Wilson’s $1.4 million for 2026 is not a fixed number across the deal — her salary in years two and three scales to 20% of the team’s total salary cap, which rises with league revenue. In a league where the cap jumped to $7.0 million this season and is projected to reach $11 million by 2032, that structure is a bet on growth rather than a flat payout.
The second is Nike. Wilson signed a six-year extension with the brand in 2024 and launched her A’One signature shoe in 2025, making her one of a short list of women’s basketball players with a signature line. Nike has never disclosed the terms. Industry reporting places deals at this tier in the eight-figure range over their full length, comparable to the eight-year Nike agreement signed by Caitlin Clark, whose own endorsement portfolio dwarfs her salary. For most WNBA stars, shoe and apparel money still exceeds basketball money by a wide margin.
The third is everything else: appearance fees, a memoir, media work, and offseason play. Public net-worth trackers put Wilson’s total wealth somewhere between $5 million and $8 million — a wide spread that reflects how little of an athlete’s private balance sheet is actually knowable. Treat those figures as estimates, not accounting.
How A’ja Wilson Went From $52,564 to $1.4 Million
Her career earnings tell the story of the league better than any chart.
Wilson was the No. 1 overall pick in 2018. Her rookie salary that year, per Spotrac: $52,564. She won MVP in 2020 and was paid $57,000. She won a championship in 2022 on a deal averaging under $200,000. Through the end of the 2025 season — eight years, four MVPs, three titles, two Finals MVPs and three Defensive Player of the Year awards — Spotrac lists her total career WNBA earnings at $1,031,642.
She will pass that entire eight-year total before this season ends.
What changed was not Wilson. It was the contract governing everyone. The WNBA and its players union ratified a seven-year CBA covering 2026 through 2032, projected to deliver more than $1 billion in player salaries and benefits. The supermax rose from $250,000 under the old agreement to $1.4 million. The minimum salary moved to $270,000. The league average is expected to land at $583,000 this season and clear $1 million by 2032. It also established the first comprehensive revenue-sharing model in women’s professional sports, at roughly 20% across the term.
For perspective on the gap that remains: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s NBA supermax pays more than $70 million a year. Wilson, with a comparable trophy case in her own league, earns roughly 2% of that.
What’s Next for A’ja Wilson’s Earnings in 2026
Two things move her number from here.
The revenue-linked structure is the first. Because years two and three are pegged to a percentage of the cap rather than a fixed dollar figure, Wilson’s pay rises automatically if the league’s media and sponsorship revenue grows. Expansion teams, a new national broadcast package and record attendance all feed that formula.
The second is the endorsement ceiling. Wilson is 29, a four-time MVP, and the face of a franchise in a market built on visibility. She is negotiating from the strongest position any WNBA player has ever held — and unlike her salary, endorsement income has no cap. Whether women’s basketball closes the distance on the highest-paid athletes in global sport will be settled off the court, not on it.
For now, the headline number is simple. Wilson earns $1.4 million this year to play basketball — a figure that would have been unthinkable in this league eighteen months ago, and one that still looks small next to what she is worth to it.
What do you think A’ja Wilson should be earning? Tell us in the comments.
