$75,000: The base salary for a woman drafted into the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association). $1,157,153: The base salary for a man in the NBA. Why is there such a huge difference? It has nothing to do with talent, potential, or even the amount of opportunity. It’s all about gender. Women can play with high intensity, win championships, make a huge impact, and they make less than a man doing the same things, or even less. Zeke Nnaji of the Denver Nuggets (NBA) has a 4-year, $32 million contract that he signed in 2023.

This contract pays him 8 million dollars per season, and he plays about 11 minutes per game. Sometimes, he rides the bench the entire game and gets paid more than a WNBA player who plays almost 40 minutes of regulation per game! Women have to play overseas to be paid enough to live an affordable life. Thankfully, in 2025, WNBA players  Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx) and Breanna Stewart (New York Liberty) co-founded Unrivaled, a 3-v-3 women’s basketball league in Miami, Florida, where WNBA players were split into 6 clubs (Laces, Mist, Rose, Lunar Owls, Vinyl, and Phantom). The league’s total salary pool in the inaugural season was $8 million, and the winner of a 1v1 tournament would earn a minimum of $250,000. The NBA holds 30 teams, while as of July 2025, only 13 teams are active in the WNBA. Women with strong showings in the WNBA are often waived because there is either not enough space in the franchise’s salary cap or not enough roster spots.

 More money is invested in the NBA; it’s a bigger audience. It’s simply men’s basketball. Ticket sales in the NBA have risen and become so absurd that the financial burden of ticket sales and concessions means the average middle-class family cannot attend or buy concessions. This led Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury owner Mat Ishbia to introduce the $2 menu for concessions like water, chips, popcorn, etc. WNBA players play fewer games than NBA players, earn less money for winning championships, have shorter playoff series, and have just within the last two years switched to charter travel after years of flying commercial, which also became a priority regarding safety when Brittney Griner (center for the Atlanta Dream, at the time Phoenix Mercury) was harassed by a social media provocateur at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport in 2023. Where a man charged toward her, yelling “Merchant of Death,” referring to Griner being freed in a prison swap for dangerous Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the merchant of death, following a 10-month detainment in Russia. Charter travel became a bigger priority when college basketball stars Caitlin Clark (Iowa) and Angel Reese (LSU) were drafted into the WNBA in April of 2024. 

So, why are there such large disparities in salary between male and female athletes? They put the same amount of work in, they have strong talent, they are passionate leaders, and they love the game they play. Women are paid less than their male counterparts as if they are in a different profession that is of low priority. They should be paid the same as their counterpart because they comply with the same rules, work as hard, compete as hard, and also care about being leaders and role models for their fans and teammates. During the recent WNBA All-Star break, which was hosted in Indianapolis, Indiana, WNBA participants wore “Pay Us What You Owe Us” T-shirts during warmups. This followed a meeting regarding better pay and benefits amid the current battle of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations. USA Today spoke with Nneka Ogwumike and Napheesa Collier,  some WNBA players involved with the negotiations: “We see the growth in the league and as it stands, the current salary system is not paying us what we’re owed,” said Nneka Ogwumike, WNBPA president and Seattle Storm All-Star. “We want to be able to have that fair share moving forward, especially as we see all of the investment going in, and we want to be able to have our salaries be reflected in a structure that makes sense for us.” "Women's sports is exploding and rapidly growing, and it feels like everyone is benefiting from that except the women in the sports," Collier said in April following the first season of Unrivaled. "That's why we are so proud to offer the highest average salary, and why having all the players have equity in the league is important to us. Treating women's athletes how they should be treated." 

Female athletes are just as important and impactful as male athletes, so they should be compensated similarly. Female athletes deserve more respect for their dedication and advocacy for impactful change to benefit future generations. Fans can support their favorite female athletes by buying tickets to games/events, buying jerseys, supporting individuals, and advocating for change in situations of inequality.