Sources: WNBA's new CBA expedites ability to land max deals - ESPN

The pending WNBA collective bargaining agreement will fast-track the ability for players on rookie-scale contracts to make maximum and supermax salaries, sources told ESPN.

The new provision, called «EPIC,» allows players to renegotiate their fourth-year salary and earn the standard max in that year if they were previously named All-WNBA first team or second team, or the supermax if they previously won MVP.

For example, 2024 Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark — who made $78,066 in 2025 — is poised to see her salary jump to $530,000 in 2026, a source said. She could earn the projected max of $1.3 million in 2027 as a previous All-WNBA player. She could then sign for a $1.7 million supermax in 2028.

The new provision would also be applicable to younger star players such as Aliyah Boston, who was All-WNBA in 2024 and is max eligible in 2026, and Paige Bueckers, who was All-WNBA in 2025 and is max eligible in 2028.

In the previous agreement, a player could earn the supermax salary only following the completion of a four-year rookie-scale contract.

The league and the players' union reached a verbal agreement on the terms of a new CBA early Wednesday. Under the new CBA, sources told ESPN, the salary cap will start at $7 million (up from $1.5 million in 2025) with the supermax starting at $1.4 million (was $249,244 in 2025).

The average salary will be about $583,000 ($120,000 in 2025), while the minimum salary has five tiers based on years of service, ranging from $270,000 to $300,000 ($66,079 in 2025), sources told ESPN, confirming a report from Front Office Sports.

A few other details of the new CBA terms have emerged.

Sources confirmed earlier reports that beginning in 2027, only a player with six or fewer years of service can