Sabrina Ionescu has signed a contract extension with the New York Liberty.
The two-year deal is worth $202,000 in 2024 and $208,060 in 2025, Her Hoops Stats’ Richard Cohen reported, well below the supermax deal she might have commanded on another, less star-studded team. Before the extension, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft was set to become a restricted free agent after the 2023 season.
Multi-Year Extension ✅ The New York Liberty has signed All-Star guard, @sabrina_i20, to an extension through the 2025 season.🗽 pic.twitter.com/2yIzrmrHT8— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) May 15, 2023
Multi-Year Extension ✅ The New York Liberty has signed All-Star guard, @sabrina_i20, to an extension through the 2025 season.🗽 pic.twitter.com/2yIzrmrHT8
For the 2023 season, the supermax salary is set at $234,936. That total increases to $241,984 in 2024 and then to $249,244 in 2025.
The Liberty do not have any player set to receive supermax money in the next three seasons. Star free-agent signings Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot both took less money to join ranks on the superteam, and Ionescu played a big role in recruiting Stewart, Vandersloot and Jonquel Jones to New York in the offseason.
“I pitched her as hard as I could,” Ionescu told The Athletic of recruiting Jones, who requested a trade from the Connecticut Sun to the Liberty.
While Ionescu will not receive a supermax paycheck, the 25-year-old guard will see a significant pay raise from her rookie-scale contract, which puts her salary at $86,701 for the 2023 season.
Her deal comes after she reached her first WNBA All-Star game and averaged 17.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 6.3 assists across 36 games in 2022.
“Her career is already off to a historic start and her will to win is truly unparalleled,” Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb said in a news release. “Sab has quickly become synonymous with the Liberty franchise, and we look forward to her continued success in New York for many years to come.”