WNBA faces big decision as rival who wants to quadruple Caitlin Clark’s salary holds fresh talks

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As the NBA prepares to spin out into Europe, the WNBA is exploring its own strategy beyond the borders of the United States.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wants NBA Europe – the project to launch a completely new league on the other side of the Atlantic – to be perhaps his greatest legacy in the sport.

Given that Silver has steered the NBA through the pandemic, overseen soaring franchise valuations and secured a historic $76bn media rights deal, that is a measure of just how seismic the powers that be believe NBA Europe can be.

The NBA is prepared to provide $3bn in start-up capital and has invited European soccer club owners, private equity titans and even superstars like Los Angeles Lakers ace Luka Doncic – who recently became a co-owner of Italian basketball team Vanoli Cremona – to submit bids for franchises, which could be valued at up to $1bn-plus ahead of an October 2027 launch.

As things stand, NBA Europe will consist of 12 permanent teams, four annual qualifiers and take place across a dozen cities from London to Istanbul. Significantly, however, its scale does not extend to the women’s sport.

The NBA have loosely suggested that they could launch a women’s version of NBA Europe in the future. But for now, at least, it will be men-only.

But franchise values have boomed by nearly 200 per cent in the WNBA in the last two years alone, powered largely by the commercial magnetism of Caitlin Clark. If that growth continues and NBA Europe A) gets off the ground and B) is a success, expect WNBA Europe to follow.

But what might that competition look like?

Well, the politicking surrounding the women’s sport in Europe, as well as the interplay with the NBA’s ambitions to launch on the continent might provide a clue.

In a recently published interview with EuroHoops, Chus Bueno, CEO of Europe’s biggest men’s and women’s basketball league, EuroLeague, revealed that his organisation has discussed the possibility of working with a major disruptor in women’s basketball: Project B.

Project B is a new continent-spanning, six-team women’s basketball league that will begin in November, with Valencia, Spain and Tokyo, Japan confirmed as host cities.

Crucially, Project B will not clash with the current WNBA schedule and has several big names – such as Nneka Ogwumike and Jewell Loyd – signed up. And on big contracts, too.

Some players’ deals are said to be worth up to $2m annually. Caitlin Clark was offered one of those contracts, which would have quadrupled her Indiana Fever base salary, but turned it down.

While the WNBA salary cap leaped from $1.5m to $7m in 2026, individual players’ remuneration will still be a fraction of what they could potentially earn elsewhere.

And while a potential collaboration, merger or partnership between Project B and EuroLeague in women’s basketball would not be a direct threat to the WNBA, it would likely accelerate the league’s strategy for reaching Europe.

If the men’s NBA Europe and its EuroLeague equivalent do end up merging, it could bring Project B into the tent in the future if the WNBA launches their own expansion on the old continent.