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When the WNBA and its players agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement last month, it meant a number of players were in line to sign record-breaking deals.
One of those players was four-time All-Star and two-time WNBA champion Kelsey Plum, who had signed a 1-year deal with the Los Angeles Sparks ahead of the 2025 season.
Plum did land a new deal to stay in LA. However, when it came time to put pen to paper, Plum didn’t sign the new $1.4 million supermax contract. In fact, her new deal didn’t even come close to that.
The 5-foot-8 guard out of Washington signed a one-year, $999,999 to keep playing with the Sparks. Many speculated that Clark signed the deal for $999,999 to specifically avoid the California Mental Health Services Act, better known as the “millionaire’s tax.”
Plum recently confirmed that fact. Unfortunately, in doing so, she also showed off a brutal misunderstanding of how the tax actually works.
Kelsey Plum Signed For Less To Avoid A Tax That Wouldn’t Have Cost Her Money
In a recent interview with YouTuber Austin Franklin, Plum explained that taxes did play a role in her signing a deal under the $1 million threshold. While she didn’t get into details, Plum stated clearly that “taxes” were part of the equation while landing at the $999,999 mark.
Stop offering Kelsey Plum $1 😂 pic.twitter.com/fmDrmGlAhd
— Austin Franklin (@austinfrankln) May 1, 2026
There’s just one problem with that. Signing for $1 million wouldn’t have cost Plum money at all. In fact, she could’ve signed for well over that figure and been completely fine.
See, California’s “millionaire’s tax” is a progressive tax, meaning that it’s only applied to every dollar that a person makes over $1 mllion. The first million dollars that Plum would have made would not be subject to that tax!
Fans on social meda were quick to point out the error of her ways.
Pookie doesn’t understand taxes, we gotta get her a new accountant https://t.co/k55ukPEvG9
— Jules✌️ (@squinternz) May 2, 2026
Additionally, Plum went on to explain that people have repeatedly come up to her and offered her $1 since signing the contract, which she has playfully rejected.
For the second straight offseason, Plum signed just a one-year deal. So she’ll be able to renegotiate with the Sparks, or perhaps another team, next offseason. Here’s hoping she has a new agent or advisor by that point.