This 11 year deal will significantly impact the Washington Wizards and Mystics’ salaries!
The NBA is on the cusp of finishing its new media deal with Disney, NBC and Amazon, according to reports. That deal will be worth $76 billion over 11 years. There may be some more wrinkles in the plan, such as Warner Bros. Discovery trying to match a deal to keep games on TNT, but either way, $76 billion is $76 billion. The new deal will start in the 2025-26 NBA season.
The deal isn’t just made for the NBA. According to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic, about $2.2 billion of that same deal will be given to the WNBA over 11 years. This amounts to about $200 million per year. For the WNBA, this money starts kicking in 2026.
What does this mean for the Wizards and NBA teams?
Much higher salaries
Like any NBA team, media revenue is the one of the biggest revenue sources for the league and all 30 teams. This source has let NBA salaries increase substantially. The current NBA media deal is entering its last year of a nine-year, $24 billion package. This new deal will triple the current one.
Players can expect their salaries to go up significantly, perhaps double, if not more than what they are now. For what it’s worth, mid-level exceptions are worth well over $12 million annually in the first year to a nonluxury tax-paying team. In two years, that exception could be worth $25 million in the first year!
Are NBA expansion teams on the horizon?
It also could raise the possibility of expansion teams. For example, Seattle opened a new arena recently and is looking for an NBA team, badly.
The Wizards could have more room to pay free agents, if they want to come to D.C.
The Wizards would have much more cap room (as well as everyone else) for 2025. But they will have one of the lowest committed payrolls when the new deal kicks in, so they’ll be able to throw money at players to accelerate their rebuild a bit faster than other teams in the luxury tax.
What does this mean for the Mystics and WNBA teams?
The new media rights deal will pay about $200 million annually to the WNBA, which is more than triple the roughly $60 million they get annually under their current deal. I already touched on the impact of a new WNBA media deal here, but I’ll re-hash the main points below.
Higher WNBA player salaries
If the media deal is more than triple the current one, it’s a safe bet that WNBA players will be paid about twice as much as they are on average right now.
The WNBA will expand to 14 teams by 2026, and team roster sizes should be expanded beyond 12 players per team, so it’s not realistic to see players’ average salaries triple if the media deal triples. But doubling seems like a good bet early on.
Perhaps fewer WNBA players will go overseas in the winter
I don’t see the WNBA banning players from playing in EuroLeague and EuroCup Women yet. But this new deal helps the league move in that direction, given that teams are building practice facilities, paying players more, and doing what they can to improve their players’ quality of life in the winter months.
Free agents next year will NOT sign a contract longer than one year
I can’t blame them! The bulk of the players who will be on artificially low salaries from the previous CBA are the players who are on rookie-scale contracts.
The Mystics will have to convince free agents in 2026 that their rebuild is moving in the right direction.
In February 2026, every WNBA team will have money to spend. So, things like practice facilities and the convenience of the city will make a difference for teams. Also, teams with a clear young foundation may be better positioned to attract free agents. Washington will realistically have Aaliyah Edwards in 2026 and their 2025 first round draft pick.
If they show promise like a young Emma Meesseman and Natasha Cloud did in their early years (2013-16), their growth could convince a top-tier free agent to come to D.C.
Let us know your thoughts on this media deal in the comments below.