Paige Bueckers was selected as the No. 1 overall pick by the Dallas Wings in the 2025 WNBA Draft. On the other hand, Cooper Flagg is the consensus No. 1 pick of the 2025 NBA Draft. The Dallas Mavericks are likely to use their lottery pick to land him on their roster.
Will Flagg get paid the same as Bueckers if he is drafted as the No. 1 overall in the upcoming draft? Here’s a salary comparison of Dallas’ No. 1 picks in the NBA and the WNBA.
Cooper Flagg’s Rookie Contract vs. Paige Bueckers’ Rookie Contract
Despite getting drafted by the same city’s franchises and at the same position in the draft, Bueckers and Flagg’s salaries will be way different. There is a massive gap between NBA and WNBA salaries.
Bueckers signed a three-year contract worth $247,688 with a team option for a fourth year worth $100,510. She will earn $78,831 in her rookie season, $80,408 in 2026, and $88,449 in 2027.
The #1 pick in tonight’s #WNBADraft will secure a 3 year, $247,688 contract with the Dallas Wings, including salaries of:
2025: $78,831
2026: $80,408
2027: $88,449
2028: $100,510 (club option)— Spotrac (@spotrac) April 14, 2025
UConn’s Bueckers earned approximately $1.4 million from her NIL deals last season, but now her WNBA base salary will decrease to $78,831 with the Wings.
The rookie scale for NBA players is totally different. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft will sign a $62,730,226 contract that pays him $13,825,920 during his rookie campaign.
Last year, Duke phenom Flagg was the highest-paid player in college basketball, with an estimated NIL valuation of $4.8 million. His rookie year salary will be nearly three times his NIL valuation.
The difference in pay will continue to grow with time due to the different salary structure in the NBA and the WNBA. The WNBA has a league-wide salary cap, just like in the NBA and NFL. For the 2025 season, the salary cap is set at $1,507,100. For reference, the NBA’s salary cap for the 2025-26 season is $154.6 million.
Unlike the NBA, where salaries are based on percentage points of the total salary cap, WNBA players are paid based on specific tiers, setting demarcations for the allowed salary.
As a result, the most that a WNBA player can earn this season is $249,244 — that is the salary for a veteran with over seven years of experience on a supermax deal (such as Kelsey Mitchell). A veteran-minimum contract, which is available for all players with over three years of experience, is set at $74,305.
On the other hand, in 2025, the NBA’s highest-paid player is Stephen Curry at $55,761,216. With NBA salaries determined by percentage points of the cap, the next batch of supermax deals will be well over $300 million for five years, or an annual average of over $60 million.
