NBA average salary is nearly 70 times greater than average WNBA salary—it's not fair

By Whitney Watkins | Sports writer

The NBA pay rate is outrageous. Many players sign multimillion-dollar contracts each year. NBA players make more money than doctors.

Indeed, the average salary in the NBA is $8.25 million dollars.

Why is this?

Maybe people care more about entertainers than someone who helps save lives. However, my main point is that WNBA players play the exact same sport as NBA players, but they don’t get paid nearly as much. In fact, the average WNBA salary is $121,000 a season. That means the average NBA salary is 68 times greater than the average WNBA salary.

I am a female athlete, I play on the women’s basketball team at Augusta University, and I am very concerned about this inequality because it’s simply not fair.

There are some professional female athletes who bring the same entertainment value when they play as the NBA players, and they don’t get recognized for what they do (at least not at the same level), or are valued enough for their work. Take Candace Parker, the former University of Tennesse great who just led the Chicago Sky to a WNBA championship after her 13 distinguished seasons for the Los Angeles Sparks. She makes about $195,000 per season.

This matter goes back to hundreds of years ago when women were fighting for equal rights, and it seems like we are still fighting now in 2021.

Gender clearly is the reason for this difference, although I fully realize that the NBA season is much longer than the WNBA season—and that the NBA has 30 teams and the WNBA only 12.

Most people think that women’s sports are not as interesting as men’s sports. Yet the reality is that women athletes go through the same workouts, conditioning and hard-core training that men do. Watch Parker’s team play, or watch the South Carolina women’s team. This is basketball at a high level.

The highest-paid NBA player is the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, who makes more than $46 million a year. By contrast, the highest paid WNBA player is the Phoenix Mercury’s DeWanna Bonner with an average annual salary of $221.450. Thus, Curry makes 208 times as much as Bonner. Curry is an amazing player, but is he really worth 208 times more than Bonner?

I believe that the NBA and WNBA should make the salaries much more equal. The NBA can share some of its vast wealth with the WNBA. After all, the women’s league was created by the NBA Board of Governors.

This debate has gone on before, and the argument was that the NBA players had tons of endorsement deals with companies such as Nike, Under Armor, Reebok and adidas. Additionally, the men’s game sells, and NBA tickets are much more expensive than those for the women’s games, so that is why the men get paid more.

It still doesn’t sit right with me that the men are getting paid so much more than the women. An NBA player can retire early, still provide for his family and be set for the rest of his life, but if a WNBA player does that, she would have to find another way to make money just to live a good lifestyle.

I think we can solve this problem by bringing awareness to the public. Most fans don’t know about the disparity.

I think the WNBA players should look at ways to protest or consider striking next season to receive fairer wages.

Contact Whitney Watkins at WWATKINS@augusta.edu.