Until recently, the basketball stars of the WNBA lacked a home court advantage. Since the league’s inception in 1996, players’ wages were so low that the athletes often spent their off-seasons chasing more lucrative contracts outside of the United States. Some were able to see the world in style; retired WNBA star Diana Taurasi was set up with a personal driver and expansive views of Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth largest city. Others landed farther from the lap of luxury; for 2026 WNBA All-Star Marina Mabrey, it was a Latvian apartment with miniature appliances and no clothes dryer. But league-wide, settling into a permanent home in the States remained a hoop dream.
That quest to remain in the US year round is a major part of what drove the women of the WNBA to the bargaining table to fight for a new union contract that would raise their salaries. In May of 2026, after more than a year of heated negotiations between the players’ union and the league, a landmark collective bargaining agreement was reached. The minimum salary this season is $270,000, a 300% increase from 2025’s $66,079 minimum, and the league’s supermax salary is now capped at 1.4M. While these salaries are still only a fraction of what men in the NBA make, the increase is life changing for many WNBA players.
Still, not every team member will be moving into new digs overnight. “We need players to be afforded an opportunity to build the wealth so that they can afford housing,” says Nneka Ogwumike, president of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association, explaining why the union pushed back when the league proposed to immediately and entirely stop providing player housing (as it has since 1999). Ultimately, the league agreed to have player housing phased out more slowly—a major win.
Ogwumike hopes that this new era of the WNBA will allow players to be able to “focus only on basketball,” with the freedom to live however, and wherever, they want. Right now, that ranges from a family home in Las Vegas to a league-provided high-rise in Seattle. Below, four ladies of the W invite us inside their spaces—each a different kind of slam-dunk.
Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles Sparks
Ogwumike’s nickname in the WNBA is “Madame President,” an affectionate moniker she earned while leading the union over the past decade. In August, she announced her plan to retire after the 2026 season, but her legacy as a tireless advocate for the players, especially in their battle for housing, will endure.
Estudio EA