What is the average NBA salary in 2020?
It is a decent wage in the US, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.It is not a decent wage for a professional athlete.It is not a decent wage for one of the most coveted positions in a women's sports league that has been around for more than two decades.
The longest tenured professional women's sports league in the U.S. is the WNBA, which has 25 seasons under its belt.The league has found its footing, but its players are struggling.They continue to fight for a higher salary.
It's one of the hardest jobs in the world to get into.There are more professional astronauts in the world than there are women's basketball players.An annual salary of over $150,000 is earned by seasoned astronauts.The elite female athletes are barely compensated relative to the value they are delivering, with the support of very little marketing.
Hope is on the horizon.The new eight-yearCBA gives the foundation to chart a new course for women's professional basketball.
We will take a look at the new average 2021, the highest and lowest paid players, and how that stacks up to the NBA.We will show you what the coaches and refs in the WNBA might make.
The maximum base level salary a player can make is $221,450 in 2021.A player with zero to two years of experience is the minimum base level salary.
Five years ago, the maximum income a player could earn was $109,000.It was tripled to $325,000 per season for Russia.In China, that number tripled to $600,000 per season.
Almost three-quarters of the players in the WNBA were playing overseas.Washington's Toliver juggles three teams.
For example, a week after she finished her seven-month season in Russia, Augustus was back in Minneapolis for the WNBA training camp.Her routine for eight years had been her eleventh year in the league.She gave up summers with her family to play overseas in order to make a living.
Diana Taurasi sat out of the 2015 WNBA season because her Russian team wanted her to rest.
The players are hard on their physical and mental well-being.The WNBA team owners don't like it because their talent can get hurt, which can cost them their season, for example, Alysha Clark's injury this season.This was a big issue for everyone in the negotiations.
The result was a huge step in the right direction.The league's maximum base salary will go up to $215,000 in 2020.It was a $97,500 increase from the previous year.The new maximum is still a fraction of the millions of dollars that top women's players earn overseas.
The league requires teams to cut their rosters to 11 or 12 players below the salary cap by the start of the season because salaries need to be paid on or about June 1.The opening day rosters of each team were adjusted after training camp.Check out the salary cap sheet to see how each team has spent their budget so far.
Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird helped create a plan with USA Basketball to pay members of the Olympic team another $100,000 to train in the United States.There is more motivation to not train and play overseas.
Diana said that the $100,000 was the number that they were comfortable with and that people would want to stay and actually do it.The league is on the up and up.
The average salary is $120,000.The average 2020 salary was $100,658.51.The average is reasonable to measure because there are no tremendous outliers at either end.The total compensation was raised by 53% with the creation of additional bonuses and prize pools.
The revenue sharing will start in 2021.As they drive profit, they have an opportunity to profit.The revenue sharing was tied to ticket sales and gave the players a 20% option.It was not triggered because the goals weren't met.The union believes that the new revenue-sharing plan has a better chance of benefiting the players.Cash additions include:
The Commissioner's Cup in-season competition will be launched in 2021.Conference rivalry rights, a unique Commissioner's Cup trophy, and a prize pool of half a million dollars will all be on the line when the first-ever league championship game is played on August 12.The Championship Game will be the culmination of the first annual, in-season competition that designates 10 per team, 60 in total, as Commissioner's Cup play.
The Commissioner's Cup is a testament to the players, fans, partners and teams who have supported and driven innovation at the league.The Commissioner's Cup is a multi-faceted platform designed to drive opportunities for broader fan engagement, create additional interest around our regular season games, and provide the players with equity and equality themes.
The new quality of travel arrangements brings in another compensation lift.For regular-season air travel, the women have room to stretch out with Premium Economy class status.They can rest better with individual hotel room accommodations.New travel concerns are addressed by the Player Advisory Panel.
While on maternity leave, players can receive their full salary.There is a new annual stipend of $5,000.Two-bedroom apartments are provided for players with children.
A private place for nursing mothers will be added to the workplace accommodations.New, progressive family planning benefits of up to a $60,000 reimbursement are now included for veteran players for costs related to adoption, surrogacy, oocyte cryopreservation or fertility/infertility treatment.
The WNBA has pledged to work with its affiliated leagues, teams and sponsors to provide off-season job opportunities designed to prepare players for their post-playing careers.Veteran players interested in coaching careers will be helped by them.
Positive changes were made for mental health because athletes, such as Kevin Love, have become more outspoken.The mental health benefits of the players have been improved.An augmented andholistic domestic/intimate partner violence program is included in the new CBA.
The Nutrition Council committed to identify resources and address proper nutrition to maximize athletic performance.Access to experts in women's health, as well as the opportunity for representation on league policy committees, are now provided to players.
The wins are a giant step forward.There is still a lot of work to be done to compensate female athletes.The league won't be paying every player's salary.
If a person is considered to be at risk for the virus, they can opt out of playing and still get a full paycheck, according to NBC Sports.Other athletes who were not at risk could also decide not to play, but they wouldn't get paid.
Irving made sure that those who opted out wouldn't have to worry about their finances.The point guard committed 1.5 million dollars through his KAI Empowerment Initiative to help cover the salaries of the players who won't play in the 2020 season.
In addition to the fund, Irving also collaborated with the investment banking company to provide financial literacy programs to every player.
The sponsors are stepping up.When Natasha Cloud decided to sit out the 2020 season, she was offered the majority of her $117,000 contract by Converse.
Elena Delle Donne is the highest paid WBNA player.The base salary for each player is $221,450.
Elena Delle Donne was the highest paid player in 2020 with a base salary of $215,000.
This is to be expected.After three and four years, salaries tend to go up a lot.An average player's salary increases more slowly than an elite player at that point.
The newest to the league earn the least money.The rookies from 2021 and 2020 are the lowest paid players.The players include Emma Cannon, Te'a Cooper, Shey Peddy, Natisha Hiedeman, Alanna Smith, Ezi Magbegor, Kennedy Burke, and Marina..
The players who have been added to rosters via a hardship exemption make less.Reshanda Gray and Cierra Burdick were added to the New York Liberty and Phoenix Mercury rosters via hardship and will make over $50,000 each.
The base salary for the same pick and years of experience increases every year.The first overall pick in 2021 is making 3% more in her first year than she did in 2020.
The players are paid when they are actually on the roster because rookies base salaries are not guaranteed.The base salary for the first four picks in the draft is $70,000 in 2021.Those drafted in the third round will make over $60,000.
That is a message from A'ja Wilson about the new contract between the Lakers and James.It renewed the debate on gender pay inequality.
The gender wage gap is something that has been going on for a long time.80% of what men do is done by women according to the U.S. Census Bureau.The gap widens for black women.Hispanic or Latina, black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander women had lower median annual earnings compared with non-Hispanic white and Asian women.
50 percent of the NBA's revenue goes to its players.NBA teams brought in over $5 billion in revenue in the year 2015, according to an analysis by Forbes.
If certain goals were hit, the WNBA had to pay 20 percent of its revenue to its players.It has been updated to 50% with more reasonable goals.The gap used to be quite wide at 30%.
The women's total revenue will be much smaller than the mens in 2021.Half of a pie is still a small slice.Revenue data is not accessible for the WNBA, but it is estimated to be about $70 million in 2019.
The average ticket price for the year was $17.42.There were 2,614,000 tickets sold and the average game attendance was 6,535 fans times 40 games.
The league makes money from merchandise sales, sponsorship, and licensing agreements.In 2021, the women can expect 50% of their money.There were no billions there.
The NBA capped teams at $101.869 million for the season.The minimum team salary is $91.862 million.90 percent of the salary cap allows teams to determine mid-level salaries based on the overall team salary average, while setting the minimum starting salary at $582,186.That is half a million dollars.The women's minimum in 2021.
The average 2020 NBA salary is $7 million.It was up from $6.4 million in 2019.The average player makes $120,000 a year.NBA rookies make an average of $820,000 a year.
It doesn't get any better for the females when you look at the top players.Curry was the highest-paid NBA player for the season, at about 40.2 million dollars.Chris Paul made $38.6 million.Phoenix Mercury forward DeWanna Bonner was the highest earner in the league at just $127,000.
The new CBA was a step in the right direction to compensate the women more.Steve Kerr is the coach of the Golden State Warriors.It took the NBA a long time to get their own hotel rooms on the road.
I think we got that kind of midway through my career.We shared rooms.We had to pay the difference if we wanted our own room.We couldn't win that in collective bargaining because the owners were holding onto it.It was a big deal when we won it.
The fight is not over.It won't be for a long time.It will take generations to change the bias against female athletes that is at the heart of the pay disparity.
There is still a lot of sexism.People don't believe that women can be good athletes.If you haven't had the chance to see a game, a player, or experience the game then you have an ignorant perspective.People are invited to see a game in the area.
The men of the NBA are with them.NBA players have expressed their love for the league in recent years.The WNBA hoodie became the hottest item in the still very-much-fashion-concerned after Kyle Lowry said, "sick handles," explaining why he watches the league in a video promoting it.
The future looks bright, but what can make it better?Strikes may be the most powerful way to raise wages in the future.Historically, the most progress has been made when women have not gone on strike in most sports.
The first time men and women were paid the same amount of money was at the US Open in 1973.There, legend Billie Jean King raised the issue of equal pay and threatened to sit out.Ban Deodorant was the first to offer equal pay.The movie "Battle of the Sexes" was inspired by the other four major tournaments offering equal prize money to both genders.
She got her wages changed because she threatened not to play anymore.That is the story of sports.Throughout the history of sports, we have seen this.If the players are not willing to walk away, they cannot change their wages.
What about the professionals who support the players every day?Next, we will look at how much the referees and coaches make.Without leveling up, the women will have a harder time taking the game to the next level.
The salaries of the coach are not public.College coaches can be looked at as a very loose reference point.The men's Final Four coaches made $1 million more than their female counterparts this year.
Pat Summitt of Tennessee was the highest paid women's basketball coach.There are at least three college women's basketball coaches making $1 million or more annually, including Geno Auriemma at $2,400,000, Tara Vanderveer at $2,289,608, and Dawn Staley at $1,700,000.
Bonuses are added to the bag.The previous contract held a bonus for reaching the Final Four.Dawn Staley had a $200,000 bonus for making the Final Four.Depending on the accomplishment from SEC Coach of the Year to NCAA Tournament rounds, Kim Mulkey's contract incentives range from $10k-150k.
Strong season performance has led to higher contracts.Georgia gave women's basketball coach Joni Taylor a raise in her contract to $850,000.She will get $925,000 by the sixth year of the contract.
Arizona women's basketball coach Adia Barnes received an effective raise of 34% to $580,000 next season as part of a reworked five-year contract.Adia Barnes will get a raise every season up to $770,000 in the final year of her contract.The school increased her contract again and this time it is a five year contract with $5.85 million in base salary compensation.
Kim Mulkey's deal with LSU is set to pay her $2.5 million in the first year, and will increase to $3 million by the end of the deal, according to an LSU official.Kim Mulkey was the highest paid coach in the country and many expected her career to end there.
It would be great if the top WNBA coaches made the same amount.Based on how much money the players are paid, it seems unlikely.Many of the women's game coaches are men.There are fewer women coaches today than in the past.Ninety percent of women's teams were led by women when Title IX was enacted.Today's number is 47 percentage points higher.
The NBA joined the National Basketball Referees Association.Only 12 teams play 36 regular-season games, so refs work a shorter season.The 2020 regular-season featured an all-time high 36 games per team.There will be 32 games in 2021.In the playoffs and finals, refs can make more money.
On April 30, 2021, the National Basketball Referees Association (NBRA), the union representing the WNBA referees, announced they have entered into a new three-year collective bargaining agreement.
The league is grateful for the work done by the NBRA in coming to the agreement.We are looking forward to the upcoming 25th season with our referees.