• Loading stock data...
Wednesday, June 4, 2025

A’ja Wilson Is Making WNBA Scoring History. Could She Be the League’s First Million-Dollar Player?

  • The Las Vegas Aces star scored 1,000 regular-season points for the first time in WNBA history Sunday night.
  • Her contract will expire at the same time new media rights and a potential new CBA kick in.
Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson (22) signs a poster Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Las Vegas Aces on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Aces defeated the Fever, 78-74.
Syndication: The Indianapolis Star/Imagn

A’ja Wilson made WNBA history Sunday night, becoming the first player to score 1,000 points in the regular season. She reached the milestone on a jumper near the right elbow as part of a 29-point campaign to give the Aces a critical win over the Sun.

This season’s likely MVP Award winner got emotional with her teammates in the locker room after the game. “When I come into work and I see y’all, it changes my whole outlook on life, so I am so, so, so appreciative for y’all,” Wilson said.

As she etches her name into the league’s history books, the back-to-back champion is also barreling toward ever-growing financial success.

Wilson’s shoe with Nike, the A’One, is set to drop next spring, along with a line of signature apparel and slides. Wilson has had a say in the process from the jump: She wanted silk inside her hoodies specifically so people could avoid wearing bonnets in the airport, and added pearl designs to the shoes to honor her late grandmother, according to Boardroom. The terms of Wilson’s deal are not public, but she signed a contract extension with the Swoosh earlier this year, the outlet reported.

Wilson’s other largest endorsement is Gatorade. Both Gatorade and Nike Basketball posted tributes to the player Sunday night.

It’s safe to say Wilson, 28, is already bringing in millions of dollars from her endorsements—Nike signed Caitlin Clark to a reported $28 million deal—which greatly exceeds her $200,000 WNBA salary. 

But as she’s making history in the scoring columns, Wilson has time on her side to reach another milestone: the WNBA’s first million-dollar contract.

This summer, the NBA and WNBA agreed to a new media-rights deal with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon Prime Video beginning in the fall of 2025 for the men and the summer of 2026 for the women. The deal will at least triple the value of the WNBA’s current one, and potentially could be roughly six times larger. That means the WNBA will have a lot more money to pay players. (Wilson’s teammate Jackie Young currently boasts the league’s highest annual salary of $252,450.)

At the same time, players have the opportunity at the end of this season to opt out of their current collective bargaining agreement and renegotiate a new one that would begin in the 2026 season, the same year as the new media-rights deal. 

With the league bringing in new money, the union will likely negotiate the tripling or quadrupling of salaries—which could mean seven-figure deals for top players.

It’s unclear whether those kinds of contracts would be possible right away or get scaled up over a few years, as the NBA does with cap-smoothing (meaning the salary cap can’t increase by more than 10% per year to avoid another Kevin Durant–to-the-Warriors incident). 

The salary cap under the WNBA’s current CBA increases by 3% each year, reaching $1.5 million in 2025. Tripling or quadrupling that for 2026 would certainly give enough room to handsomely pay players, and Wilson’s two-year extension with Las Vegas is up at the end of 2025, which means she’ll be part of the first crop of players to benefit from the new influx of cash.

The counterpoint here is that Wilson did not max out her salary for 2024 and 2025 to allow the Aces to sign the best talent. And hitting 1,000 points in the regular season is just one of countless accolades she’s accumulated over the years.

Whether Wilson reaches $1 million or falls short—voluntarily or not—remains to be seen, but she will undoubtedly sign a deal bigger than the league has currently seen. And after the season she’s had on top of two consecutive championships, her signature shoe, and an Olympic Gold medal, it’s hard to argue Wilson shouldn’t be first in line for that milestone as well.

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

LeBron James

Adam Silver: All-Star Game Will Be USA vs. World in Daytime Event

The NBA tried a tournament last year that fell in ratings.
Jun 2, 2025; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders players celebrate after defeating the Oklahoma Sooners 3-2 and advance to the finals against Texas in the NCAA Softball Women's College World Series semifinal game at Devon Park.

How Texas Tech Put Together Its First-Ever Women’s College World Series Run

AD Kirby Hocutt speaks with FOS about the Red Raiders’ winning formula.
Hilary Knight

PWHL Teams Risk Losing Superstars in Expansion Draft

The league only permitted teams to initially protect three players each.
May 1, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Stephen A. Smith attends game six of first round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs between the Denver Nuggets and the LA Clippers at Intuit Dome.

Stephen A. Smith Adds Two New Shows at SiriusXM

One of the busiest men in sports media gets even busier.

Featured Today

May 27, 2015; Paris, France; Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO) knocks the clay off her shoe during her match against Simona Halep (ROU) on day four of the French Open at Roland Garros

Roland-Garros’s Iconic Red-Clay Surface Is a Precise Alchemy

The exact science behind maintaining the French Open’s red clay.
Alex Jensen introductory press conference on Monday, March 17, 2025.
June 3, 2025

Alex Jensen Started Utah Utes HC Job While Still Coaching the Mavs

How Jensen began building an NCAA program while patrolling the Dallas sideline.
May 31, 2025

PSG and the City of Paris Can Join European Soccer’s Elite

What a maiden Champions League title would mean for the French club.
May 30, 2025

How the Champions League Anthem Took on a Life of Its Own

The composer didn’t know he wrote a timeless hit three decades ago.
May 31, 2025; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (USA), left, defeats Gabby Thomas (USA) to win the women's 200m, 21.99 to 22.10, during the Grand Slam Track Philadelphia at Franklin Field.
June 2, 2025

Grand Slam Track Investigating Man Saying He Heckled Gabby Thomas to Win..

The league announced a “full investigation into the reprehensible behavior.”
June 4, 2025

Stanley Cup Is Connor McDavid’s Chance to Cement All-Time Status

The Oilers superstar is mirroring the path of Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky.
Sponsored

Game On: Portfolio Players Stories, Brought to You by E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

In Episode 7 of Portfolio Players, go inside the boardroom with Avenue Capital CEO and former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry on Giannis’s future, women’s sports, and upstart leagues like TGL and Unrivaled. 
June 1, 2025

Verstappen Nears F1 Suspension After ‘Mario Kart’–Style Mayhem

The Red Bull driver received penalty points in Sunday’s race.
John Haliburton
May 28, 2025

John Haliburton’s Brief Ban Ends With Pacers on Brink of Finals

John Haliburton was sitting in a suite instead of his usual courtside seat. 
Cousins
May 27, 2025

Kirk Cousins, James Cook Among Prominent NFL OTA Absences

The NFL’s 2024 rushing touchdowns leader was among the absences Tuesday.
May 27, 2025

Dodgers’ Biggest Deadline Pickup Might Already Be in L.A.

Ohtani faces batters as a pitcher for the first time in 21 months.