HOUSTON — Azzi Fudd has been waiting years for this moment. After four seasons as a star guard for the University of Connecticut, she was taken No. 1 overall by the Dallas Wings in Monday’s WNBA Draft. Ahead of her selection, she told NBC News there was only one way to describe her feelings.
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“I’ve gotten to watch the last four years my teammates go through this process, and so now to be the one going through this…” Fudd told NBC News, “Excited is the word that just keeps coming (up).”
Fudd headlines a draft class of ballers hitting the WNBA hardwood at a major moment in the league after a transformational collective bargaining agreement was inked in March. That agreement will give players a share in WNBA revenue and sky rocket salaries.
The league’s average annual salary is expected to increase from $120,000 to $583,000, according to the WNBA, with minimum pay starting at $270,000. Its biggest stars are now able to score multimillion-dollar deals for the first time.
Some players like Connecticut Sun star Brittney Griner have already signed seven-figure deals, according to multiple reports.
In 2022, Griner was imprisoned in Russia for 294 days for allegedly carrying hashish oil while entering the country to play basketball. Playing overseas is something many players have historically done during the offseason where some made more than quadruple their WNBA salaries.
The new CBA is set to fix that.
“This is a deal that finally positions WNBA players, professional women basketball players, positions them for success, values them in the business appropriately,” said Terri Carmicheal Jackson, WMBPA executive director, who helped negotiate the deal on behalf of the players. “This is a big deal.”
It’s not just the veteran players who benefit. This year’s top draft pick is projected to earn $500,000, six times the $78,000 last year’s No. 1 selection was paid.
“It’s an incredible time to be coming in the league, to be playing women’s basketball, to be playing women’s sports in general,” UCLA guard Kiki Rice said. “I’m just so grateful.”
Salaries aren’t the only thing changing. Benefits now guarantee housing, chartered air travel and minimum standards for practice facilities.
“We are going to be able to hold the teams accountable to having minimum standards, to having regulation WNBA basketball courts, to having a separate locker room facility with the appropriate number of showers,” Jackson said. “The fact that we had to do this is really kind of sad after 30 years in existence of this league, but we got there.”
New health and wellness benefits will also mean more medical staff, mental health reimbursements and pregnancy protections, including obtaining consent before trading a pregnant player.
In 2024, Dearica Hamby sued the Las Vegas Aces for discrimination, accusing the team of trading her after she revealed her pregnancy. Hamby later agreed to dismiss the suit.
“All these new perks, these benefits, (are) changes that are going to help change our lives as professional athletes,” Fudd said. “I can’t believe I just said ‘our’ as a professional athlete.”
She added: “I think it’s going to be incredible.”
The deal comes as interest in women’s sports, especially basketball, has surged in recent years. This past year, the WNBA saw its highest viewership and attendance ever, bringing in more than 54 million unique viewers and raising attendance by 48% over the previous season, thanks to fan favorites including Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark.
While revenue is rising, the league still operates at a loss that The Washington Post reported rose to $50 million in 2024.
Still, the league’s players went hard in the paint — even donning shirts that read “Pay Us What You Owe Us” at last year’s WNBA All-Star Game — to set up the next generation of players.
“There’s a sense of legacy that they’re being handed, and a sense of responsibility to to care for this and to protect this and to continue to fight for what is rightfully theirs and what they absolutely deserve,” Jackson said.
“I think it’s extremely empowering, inspiring,” Fudd said. “And I think there’s still more growth to go.”
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