The WNBA and WNBPA are still locked into CBA negotiations that threaten to delay the 2026 season. For players, it is the perfect chance to finally fight for higher salaries, a fair revenue-sharing system, better retirement benefits, and much more.
For the longest time, WNBA players have been paid so little that they have had to supplement their salaries by playing overseas, taking on coaching jobs, or venturing into broadcasting. Allisha Gray found another way to make some extra money: Winning challenges during WNBA All-Star weekend and the Unrivaled season.
While it is great that players have the opportunity to make extra money by playing 1-on-1 or being an efficient free-throw shooter, those earnings shouldn’t come close to their WNBA salaries. After all, taking part in a 3-point shootout or a skills challenge doesn’t even compare to the months WNBA players spend putting their bodies and mental health on the line.
Allisha Gray has earned an entire WNBA season’s salary worth in challenges since 2024
Gray ruled All-Star weekend in 2024 by winning both the 3-point contest and the skills challenge. Those two wins earned her $5,150 from the WNBA and $110,000 from Aflac, an insurance company that supplemented the prize money from the league.
The Atlanta Dream star made $185,000 in the 2024 season, so her earnings from the skills challenge and the 3-point contest came out to more than half of her salary.
Gray wasn’t able to defend her titles at the 2025 WNBA All-Star Weekend, but found other challenges to thrive in. She made $50,000 by reaching the finals in Unrivaled’s 1-on-1 tournament and earned the same amount by winning the league’s second free-throw challenge two days ago. The money she got from both challenges came out to more than a third of her salary for the 2025 season.
Her challenge earnings from 2024 and this Unrivaled season equaled more than one season of Gray’s latest WNBA contract.
Players’ salaries will skyrocket under a new CBA
The CBA negotiations have raised a lot of questions: will there be a 2026 season? When will the season start? What does the new salary cap mean for superteams? One thing that isn’t in question is that players will make a lot more money. Some players will make a million dollars.
The one thing the league and the players just cannot agree on is how much of the revenue players should receive. Even though the WNBPA was willing to lower the percentage they are asking for, the two sides are still almost 10% apart.
If the 2026 season should start on time, a new CBA will have to be agreed upon by March 10. That deadline is approaching fast.