Paige Bueckers Outdoes WNBA Salary With Unrivaled Deal

Paige Bueckers has agreed to a deal with Unrivaled that will net her more money than her WNBA contract will in the first year alone.

Apr 6, 2025; Tampa, FL, USA; Connecticut Huskies guard Kaitlyn Chen (20) and guard Paige Bueckers (5) celebrates after winning the national championship of the women's 2025 NCAA tournament against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Paige Bueckers is getting paid and she hasn't even entered the WNBA yet. The UConn star is expected to be taken No. 1 overall by the Dallas Wings in Monday's WNBA Draft, but before that, a deal between another league and the newly crowned national champion has been struck, one with Unrivaled.

As first reported by Kendra Andrews of ESPN, Bueckers is signing a three-year contract with the 3-on-3 league that takes place during the WNBA offseason. This is not unexpected since Bueckers already had an NIL deal in place with Unrivaled, however, the salary implications stand out.

According to reports, Bueckers will exceed her entire WNBA salary in the first year of her Unrivaled deal alone. This means she will earn more in the 10-week season for Unrivaled than she will over the duration of her four-year rookie contract in the WNBA.

Breaking: Paige Bueckers, projected to go No. 1 in tomorrow’s WNBA draft, has signed a 3-year deal with Unrivaled, sources tell ESPN. Her first-year salary with Unrivaled exceeds what she would make in her entire four-year rookie scale contract in the W. https://t.co/KiVs14yYhD

— Kendra Andrews (@kendra__andrews) April 14, 2025

Unrivaled positioned itself as a way for the top women's players to not have to supplement their salaries by playing internationally in the offseason, while also offering equity in the league. The average salary in Unrivaled's inaugural season was over $200,000. For context, Bueckers is set to make just under $79,000 in her rookie season in the WNBA.

While the exact details of her deal with Unrivaled have not been revealed, it is clear that the upstart league is attempting to continue to set a new standard when it comes to salaries in women's basketball, with Bueckers being a big get as she starts her professional career.

The new league will surely now set its sites on adding other stars (notably Caitlin Clark and A'ja Wilson) who didn't play during the inaugural season. But in the meantime, Unrivaled is showing it is serious about its staying power via the commitment to Bueckers.