Ahead of the 2026 season and a looming collective bargaining showdown, the WNBA Board of Governors released its annual power rankings Tuesday. The list officially organizes the league’s top 50 players by the exact amount of untaxed franchise equity they successfully generated for their bosses.
NEW YORK — Las Vegas Aces center and unanimous MVP A'ja Wilson topped the ownership group’s list. According to the league’s internal memos, Wilson’s historic scoring output and massive cultural footprint directly allowed team owners to secure a combined $175 million in expansion fees from new syndicates in Toronto and Portland, an achievement the league celebrated by posting a congratulatory graphic on social media.
The rankings carefully evaluated athletes based on their ability to drive historic broadcast ratings, sell out opposing arenas, and elevate the league's national profile without accidentally triggering any mechanisms that would require owners to share the resulting windfall with the locker room.
We are incredibly proud of these elite athletes, whose generational talent has allowed our governors to collect nine-figure expansion checks while maintaining a completely straight face when telling the players union that the league is operating at a massive loss.
Rounding out the top five were several recent draft picks who have successfully doubled the valuation of founding franchises, ensuring that when private equity firms eventually purchase minority stakes in the clubs, the current owners will realize massive returns on their initial investments without having to alter the salary cap.
League officials confirmed the 50 ranked players will be honored during an on-court ceremony opening weekend. The athletes will be presented with commemorative plaques before being firmly reminded by league lawyers that their upcoming demands for a 50-50 revenue split are a distraction being handled internally.