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Social Media Income Potential for Top 10 NBA and WNBA Draft Picks

by Docsports.com - 6/7/2025

Key Insights

  • Paige Bueckers’ social media potential is $1,047,096/year, over four times that of Cooper Flagg.
     
  • Social media makes up 93.0% of Paige’s total first-year earnings, compared to just 2.0% for Cooper.
     
  • For WNBA prospects, social media earnings can dramatically outpace their rookie salaries—Paige’s digital income is 13 times her salary.
     
  • For NBA prospects, social media remains a minor supplement to their substantial salaries.

A new study by Doc's Sports analyzes the estimated annual social media earnings of 50 of the top NBA and WNBA prospects, comparing them to their projected rookie salaries. The findings highlight the growing importance of social media for athletes, particularly for WNBA players, whose digital presence can significantly impact their overall income.

Top 5 NBA Prospects by Estimated Annual Social Media Earnings

This section ranks NBA prospects by their projected potential social media income.

  1. Cooper Flagg : $255,511/year 
  2. Ace Bailey: $45,299/year
  3. Walter Clayton Jr.: $26,846/year 
  4. Jeremiah Fears: $22,324/year 
  5. Kon Knueppel: $14,550/year

 

 

Top 5 WNBA Prospects by Estimated Annual Social Media Earnings

This section highlights how WNBA prospects can earn substantial income from social media, often surpassing their rookie salaries.

  1. Paige Bueckers: $1,047,096/year
     
  2. Hailey Van Lith: $338,849/year
     
  3. Aneesah Morrow: $46,120/year
     
  4. Georgia Amoore: $28,742/year
     
  5. Kiki Iriafen: $21,457/year 

 

 

Top 5 Total First-Year Earning Potential (Salary + Social Media)

This section compares total first-year earning potential—salary plus estimated social media income—demonstrating the different financial landscapes for NBA and WNBA prospects. Those numbers are an estimate.

NBA

  • Cooper Flagg: $12,855,511 total ($12,600,000 salary + $255,511 social [2.0%])
     
  • Dylan Harper: $11,300,682 total ($11,300,000 salary + $682 social [0.0%])
     
  • Ace Bailey: $10,145,299 total ($10,100,000 salary + $45,299 social [0.4%])
     
  • VJ Edgecombe: $9,114,140 total ($9,100,000 salary + $14,140 social [0.2%])
     
  • Tre Johnson: $8,300,000 total ($8,300,000 salary + $0 social [0.0%])
     

WNBA

  • Paige Bueckers: $1,125,927 total ($78,831 salary + $1,047,096 social [93.0%])
     
  • Hailey Van Lith: $411,304 total ($72,455 salary + $338,849 social [82.4%])
     
  • Aneesah Morrow: $121,763 total ($75,643 salary + $46,120 social [37.9%])
     
  • Georgia Amoore: $104,385 total ($75,643 salary + $28,742 social [27.5%])
     
  • Kiki Iriafen: $100,288 total ($78,831 salary + $21,457 social [21.4%])
     

Since 2014, the first overall pick’s rookie salary has nearly tripled in the NBA, rising from $4.6 million to $12.2 million in 2023. This upward trend not only benefits incoming players but also highlights the widening gap between NBA and WNBA rookie salaries, as during the same period, the first pick of WNBA salary went from $48,670 to $74,305 for the first year.

 

No. 1 Pick Salary by Year

 

This analysis reveals the growing disparity between NBA and WNBA rookie salaries and the transformative potential of social media for women athletes. While NBA prospects rely primarily on their professional contracts, WNBA players can leverage their online presence for significant financial gain, making digital engagement a key factor in their overall earning potential.

Methodology

Data Collection

Draft Prospects

  • NBA Prospects: We sourced the list of top NBA draft prospects from ESPN's "Best Available" board.
  • WNBA Prospects: The WNBA draft board was obtained from the official WNBA 2025 draft board.

These sources provided the names and rankings of the most promising players expected to enter the NBA and WNBA in the upcoming draft.

Salary Data

  • NBA Rookie Salaries: Salary information for NBA draft picks was collected from Sports Illustrated's NBA Draft Pick Rookie Salary Breakdown.
  • WNBA Rookie Salaries: WNBA rookie salary data was obtained from the same draft board and league announcements, which outline the standard rookie contract values for each draft slot.

Social Media Data

  • Instagram and TikTok Followers: For each prospect, we manually collected the number of Instagram and TikTok followers by searching their official or most-followed public profiles. This ensured the most up-to-date and accurate follower counts for each athlete.

Calculating Social Media Earning Potential

Establishing a Benchmark Rate

To estimate how much each athlete could earn from social media, we analyzed a set of public figures (celebrities and athlete partners) with known follower counts and reported earnings per post. This only represents an estimate and the actual earning may varies according to multiple factors.

From this sample, we calculated the average earning rate per follower for each platform:

  • Instagram: $0.00394 per follower per post
  • TikTok: $0.00247 per follower per post

These rates reflect the average value of a follower for sponsored content, based on real-world influencer and celebrity deals.

Annual Earning Potential

We estimated each prospect's potential earnings per post by multiplying their follower counts by the respective platform rates. Assuming a moderate posting frequency of one sponsored post per week per platform (52 posts per year), we calculated annual social media earning potential.

Data Integration and Analysis

We combined the draft, salary, and social media data for each prospect. For each player, we reported:

  • Name
  • Estimated annual social media income
  • TikTok followers
  • Instagram followers

We then ranked prospects by their estimated social media earning potential and compared these figures to their expected rookie salaries to understand the relative importance of digital presence for each athlete's total earning potential.

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