Caitlin Clark is the lone basketball player on Sportico’s latest ranking of the highest-paid female athletes. She has climbed into the No. 6 spot with an estimated $16.1 million in total earnings, a number that came despite an injury-shortened campaign that lasted only 13 games.
Her WNBA salary, at $119,000, barely registers in comparison to the endorsement revenue powering her rise.
With that level of financial comfort, Clark finds herself in a position few young athletes ever reach: she does not need additional leagues, additional seasons, or additional mileage on her body to secure her future.
It has become the clearest explanation for why she continues to pass on eye-catching offers from leagues eager to attach themselves to her name.
“Caitlin doesn’t have the need, the financial need to play in any other leagues. She’s making so much money off the court in endorsements,” Robin Lundberg summed it up.
Turning down opportunities that most players would chase
This is not the first offseason in which Clark faced pressure to take on more. After her rookie year, Unrivaled approached her with a package worth $1 million plus equity for a short stint. She declined immediately.
The upstart Project B league, which launches in 2026 and already features teammates Sophie Cunningham and Kelsey Mitchell, made an even more aggressive run at her. Salaries in that league reportedly stretch into the millions annually, with multi-year commitments reaching eight-figure totals and equity attached. Again, Clark said no.
A pattern that started before she ever played a pro game
Even before her WNBA debut, the Big3 tried to recruit her with a highly publicized proposal. The league referenced an offer worth $5 million for an eight-game run and, according to reporting, would have pushed the figure to roughly $15 million for a full ten-week commitment. Those numbers exceeded what she earned in 2024.
The problem was timing: the Big3 schedule ran directly into her first WNBA season. Joining would have meant competing in two leagues simultaneously while learning professional basketball on the fly. She passed without hesitation.
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