Liz Cambage may have owned the basketball court, but it turns out that her real slam dunk was hidden behind a paywall. Liz Cambage is a 6’8” Australian WNBA star, an Olympic athlete, and one of the most dominant centers in the history of the league. As much of a powerhouse as she clearly is, you would think that she’d be paid accordingly, but alas. Cambage reports that she’s made more in her first year as a content creator on OnlyFans than she did in her entire career in the WNBA. When your professional league paycheck can’t compete with the money you make from saucy selfies, maybe the whole system needs a time-out.
Liz Cambage is kind of a big deal, and it’s not hard to see why when you take a closer look. She was born in London, raised in Australia, and then made her WNBA debut in 2011 with the Tulsa Shock. She’s a four-time WNBA All-Star and currently holds the record for single-game scoring with 53 points in 2018. She’s known for her confidence, her sheer power, and her refusal to sugarcoat the truth about the pay disparity in women’s sports. She’s played with the Dallas Wings, the Las Vegas Aces, and the Los Angeles Sparks. She’s the kind of player who makes slam dunks look as easy as breathing, and now she’s making waves on OnlyFans instead of on the court.
When it comes to how much money she’s earned, Cambage isn’t shy about sharing. She claims to have made more money during her first year on OnlyFans than she did throughout the entire duration of her professional basketball career, and the numbers don’t lie. Her lifetime WNBA earnings total $590,836 across seven seasons of play, versus the $1.5 million she’s earned on OnlyFans in less than a year. According to Cambage, she also enjoys more “creative freedom and control” on OnlyFans compared to her time in the league. On average, the WNBA’s salary is somewhere between $120K–$130K per season, with a minimum salary of $64K. The NBA average, however? Roughly $9.7 million. That’s just… a smidge of a difference. If you’re a dude warming the bench for the NBA, you’re still making more money than the women in the WNBA busting their ass and setting records on the court, and Cambage has been not at all shy about pointing that out.
There’s not so much a pay gap between WNBA and NBA players as there is a whole pay canyon. WNBA salaries are typically capped at less than 1% of NBA player pay on average, with female players having to resort to side hustles in order to survive, especially those based in larger cities. Multiple WNBA players, Cambage included, have been outspoken about not feeling valued by their teams or federations. OnlyFans, however, allows these women the opportunity to monetize their fame with a direct-to-consumer model, giving women with a fan following the chance to connect directly with those who want to support their favorite athletes outside of the arena. When jump shots are getting you applause but not enough money to pay your rent, it’s not hard to see why a ring light has started to seem like the real MVP trophy.
Cambage isn’t the only woman in professional sports to turn to OnlyFans. Paige VanZant (MMA) has also earned millions on OnlyFans. Renee Gracie (Australian racer) left motorsports for OnlyFans and has even used her earnings to purchase her own racing team. The opportunity to have full control over their image, a deeper connection with their fans, and much-needed income stability are just too good for athletes to pass up when their paycheck isn’t stretching far enough. Athletes already have built-in followings that will follow them to OnlyFans, and performance pressure? Pffft. That’s nothing new—OnlyFans just lets them change up the uniform a little. Many of the athletic women of OnlyFans don’t view their decision as “selling out,” but rather as reclaiming ownership of their image.
Cambage’s OnlyFans page isn’t just about thirst traps; it’s about the economic empowerment that she didn’t find on the court. Women athletes are leveraging their fame on OnlyFans because that’s a platform that will actually allow them to be paid according to their worth. Maybe if the WNBA took a note from OnlyFans and paid their star players according to the work they’re putting in, they wouldn’t have to keep one foot in the locker room and the other checking their light.
Cambage isn’t turning her back on sports; she’s just found a way to win on her own terms. Cambage’s presence on OnlyFans symbolizes a whole new playbook for women in athletics, one that implores women to work smarter, not harder. Cambage may have left the court, but she’s scoring more than ever on OnlyFans, and this time, she’s the one getting the paycheck from her fans grabbing a ringside seat.
