Former Phoenix Mercury star Bridget Pettis walked away from working in the WNBA to focus on her south Phoenix farm during the pandemic in 2020.
Six years later, the Mercury Ring of Honor inductee is grateful for the league's new one-time veteran recognition payments for retired players, which are due at the end of 2026.
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“I thought it was a blessing,” Pettis told The Arizona Republic. “It’s definitely going to help."
Pettis spent 17 years in the WNBA as a player and coach when salaries were minimal.
She was working on the farm when several of her associates sent her text messages about the league's landmark collective bargaining agreement finalized in March, which included the retiree payment plan.
On May 29, Front Office Sports reported the new CBA will send 280 retired players more than $14 million in lump sum remittances.
“I think it’s really awesome that our league and players fought for that," Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said on June 1, the day the Mercury lost at home to Minnesota. "I’m glad that the owners and players came to an agreement to recognize the veterans that have put time into this great league.”
The WNBA previously didn't have a retirement pension payout for players classified by years of service, like the NBA, NFL, MLB or NHL.
The WNBA retired players will be paid the following: $30,000 for five to seven years; $50,000 for eight to 11; $100,000 for 12-plus. Players who won the MVP award but didn’t play 12 years are eligible for the max $100,000.
Mercury icon Diana Taurasi, who retired in 2025 after her league record 20 years played, said at her Arizona Sports Hall of Fame induction in April praised the veteran recognition payment as a "nice gesture," and that the new CBA "moved the needle forward for women’s sports, not only for our league, for all the leagues coming in the future."
The average WNBA player salary during the league's first year 1997 was $32,500, which is $64,611 adjusted for inflation today, per Spotrac. In 2025, the average salary entering last season was $102,249. After the CBA accounted for several new billion-dollar TV broadcast rights deals, this year's average salary skyrocketed to about $583,000.
However, it’s bittersweet for Pettis. She sympathized for retired players ineligible for payouts, especially those who played during the league's inaugural season and didn't reach the five-year threshold.
“It’s just gratitude more than anything, but I also saw that it’s unfortunate for the players, that first year. I know a lot of those players," Pettis said. “I feel like the first year shouldn’t be something that is overlooked. I know a player in Houston who played three years and that was it. She had three championships.”
The WNBA’s original dynasty, Houston Comets, consecutively won the league’s first four titles.
Still, Pettis is grateful that the WNBPA and league are taking care of their pioneers and retirees. She hopes there’s more to come financially honoring the league’s pioneers and retirees.
Pettis is confident WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike ''thinks in a way of how to continue a process of all the sisters that are a part of the W and I like that about her. This isn’t the final say. It’s the waiting station for now.”
Pettis farm 'just as valuable'
Pettis owns her non-profit organization Project Roots, which runs the Bridget Pettis Foundation Farm School for children youth basketball camps and yoga classes. The organization's mission is to educate people, end homelessness and provide food to underprivileged residents in Phoenix and her hometown of East Chicago, Indiana.
After Pettis ended her playing career in 2006, she became a Mercury assistant coach and won two titles with the team in 2007 and 2009. Pettis had additional stints on the Tulsa Shock and Dallas Wings coaching staffs from 2014-17, then with the Chicago Sky on a $45,000 salary through 2019.
Pettis left the Sky in 2020 when she refused the league’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination to be part of the truncated 22-game regular season within the enclosed “wubble” at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
Pettis described her next step as a “big challenge” and “grieving” stage many basketball players and pro athletes endure post-retirement. Farming offered her an enlightened spiritual and entrepreneurial path.
Pettis has half an acre on a 20-acre community farm, costing her about $15,000 annually. She hasn’t broken even on her farm costs yet, but success is measured in other ways.
“Even though I don’t make the salary of the players today, I feel as if I’m just as valuable as their salary and it’s up to me in using that experience and my talents today to find that," Pettis said.
"I want to encourage other players to do that, help other players find that because we all can find that way of getting that value and that knowledge out in the community that can sustain you, and create business and create sustainable living opportunities while you’re giving back.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mercury legend Bridget Pettis lauds WNBA retired player payout plan