$5 million. That’s the full value of the richest contract in WNBA history — a three-year supermax extension A’ja Wilson signed to stay with the Las Vegas Aces. It’s a real record. It’s also a number that Victor Wembanyama’s NBA rookie extension, signed the same summer, clears in roughly five weeks.
Wilson, the WNBA’s only four-time MVP, re-signed with Las Vegas on April 15, 2026, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania and Andraya Carter. Aces president Nikki Fargas called her “truly one of one, who has led this franchise to where it is today.” Wilson had already made her intentions clear a week earlier, at a USA Basketball camp, when asked about free agency: “I’m not looking. I know exactly where I am. I know I love Vegas. I’m not leaving Vegas, so I’m not looking anywhere.”
A Record, Structured to Keep Growing
The deal is fully guaranteed and, unusually for the WNBA, not a fixed annual number. Wilson earns $1.4 million in 2026 — the new supermax base under the league’s collective bargaining agreement — and then her salary scales for 2027 and 2028 to equal 20% of the Aces’ total salary cap, according to Just Women’s Sports’ Claire Watkins. Sports Illustrated puts the average annual value at roughly $1.67 million once all three years are counted. Because the league’s salary cap itself is scheduled to keep rising — from $7 million toward $10 million over the life of the new CBA, as this site detailed in its coverage of Caitlin Clark’s 2026 salary jump — Wilson’s pay is built to climb automatically as the league’s economics do.
It’s the largest contract in WNBA history by total value. It is also, for context, smaller than what some NBA rotation players make in a single season.
From $400,000 to a Record, in Three Years
The jump is easiest to see against Wilson’s own prior deal. In 2023, under the WNBA’s old CBA, she signed a team-friendly two-year extension worth $400,000 total — roughly $200,000 a year, in an era when even the league’s supermax tier topped out around $241,000. The new CBA, ratified by the WNBA Board of Governors on March 24, 2026, rewrote that scale entirely, lifting the supermax floor to $1.4 million and tying it to each team’s rising cap for the first time. Wilson’s new deal isn’t just a raise — it’s a different pay structure than the one she played under for most of her career.
The Season That Justified It
Wilson’s leverage wasn’t close. In 2025, she became the first player in WNBA or NBA history to win a scoring title, league MVP, Finals MVP and a share of Defensive Player of the Year in the same season, while leading the Aces to the championship — their third title with her on the roster, and her second Finals MVP. Her fourth regular-season MVP award, won that year, is a WNBA record outright, breaking a three-way tie with Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson.
Off the Court: Nike, a Shoe, a Bestseller
Wilson’s largest outside asset is a six-year Nike extension, signed in 2024 and reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania and Alexa Philippou as one of the richest shoe-and-apparel deals in women’s basketball — Nike has never disclosed the actual figure. It produced her own signature sneaker, the A’One, which launched in 2025, putting her in the same small group as Caitlin Clark and Sabrina Ionescu as active WNBA players with a Nike signature shoe. Wilson is also a published author: her 2024 memoir-advice book, “Dear Black Girls: How to Be True to You,” debuted as a New York Times bestseller its first week out.
What She’s Actually Worth
There’s no audited figure for Wilson’s total wealth. Celebrity Net Worth estimates it at $8 million, in a page last updated April 17, 2026 — the only number this site treats as credible enough to cite, built from her WNBA earnings (over $6 million across her career, including the new supermax) plus undisclosed income from Nike, Gatorade, Ruffles and Mountain Dew endorsements. Treat it as one outlet’s rough estimate, not a fact.
The Bottom Line
A’ja Wilson now holds the richest contract any WNBA player has ever signed, built on the best individual season the league has ever seen. It is also a $5 million deal, averaging less annually than the undisclosed-but-described-as-richest shoe contract she already had with Nike — and roughly 30 times less per year than the rookie extension Victor Wembanyama signed in the NBA that same summer. The record and the gap are both real, and they’re the same story.
More from Absolute Baller:
- Caitlin Clark Net Worth 2026: Salary Raise vs. Nike Deal
- Victor Wembanyama’s $252M Extension: Turned Down $50M
- Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2026: No Women in Forbes Top 50
- Nikola Jokić Turned Down $278M — He Wants $359.5M Instead
- Why Pro Athletes Go Broke: The Financial Traps Draining Million-Dollar Careers
Frequently Asked
How much is A'ja Wilson's new contract worth?
Three years and $5 million — the largest contract in WNBA history, according to ESPN's Shams Charania and Andraya Carter, who first reported the deal on April 15, 2026. She earns a fixed $1.4 million in 2026, then her salary scales for 2027 and 2028 to equal 20% of the Las Vegas Aces' salary cap, averaging roughly $1.67 million a year over the life of the deal, per Sports Illustrated and Just Women's Sports.
How does Wilson's deal compare to what NBA players make?
It isn't close. Victor Wembanyama's five-year, $252 million rookie-scale extension with the San Antonio Spurs — signed in July 2026 and covered separately on this site — averages about $50.4 million a year. Wilson's new supermax averages roughly $1.67 million a year. That's a gap of about 30 times, even though Wilson's deal is a record by WNBA standards and Wembanyama's is a below-max rookie extension by NBA ones.
What changed between Wilson's old contract and this one?
The entire pay scale. Wilson signed a team-friendly two-year, $400,000 deal with the Aces in 2023, under the WNBA's old collective bargaining agreement, where the supermax tier topped out around $241,000 a year. The WNBA's new CBA, ratified in March 2026 and detailed in this site's coverage of Caitlin Clark's salary jump, raised the supermax to a $1.4 million base and introduced the cap-percentage structure that lets Wilson's pay climb with Las Vegas's salary cap — which itself rises from $7 million toward $10 million over the agreement's life.
What does A'ja Wilson make off the court?
Her largest disclosed off-court asset is a six-year Nike extension, signed in 2024, that multiple outlets described as one of the richest deals in women's basketball history — though Nike has never disclosed the dollar figure. It included her own signature shoe, the A'One, which launched in 2025. She's also a New York Times bestselling author: her 2024 book 'Dear Black Girls: How to Be True to You' debuted on the list in its first week.
What is A'ja Wilson's net worth?
Celebrity Net Worth estimates it at $8 million, in a page last updated April 17, 2026 — the only net-worth figure this site treats as credible enough to cite. The site's own disclaimer notes it draws on public sources and does not itemize the calculation, so treat it as one outlet's estimate rather than an audited fact.