Woori Bank's Kim Dan-bi maintained the top position in WKBL salary aggregates for the 2025-2026 season, securing the crown for the fourth consecutive year.
The Korean Women's Basketball League (WKBL) announced the player registration results for the 2025-2026 season, which closed on May 31 at 5 p.m. According to the data submitted by six teams, the total number of registered players, excluding rookies and Asian quota players, was 81. This figure represents a decrease of four from the same period last year (85 players).
Kim Dan-bi's salary aggregates this season were unparalleled. She recorded a salary of 300 million won and an additional allowance of 150 million won, totaling 450 million won, placing her in first overall. This amount is 50 million won higher than the joint second-place players, BNK Some's Kim Sonia and KB Stars' Park Ji-soo, who both had 400 million won (300 million won salary, 100 million won allowance). Kim Dan-bi has ranked first in salary aggregates for four consecutive years since the 2022-2023 season.
The total number of players earning over 100 million won was 33, down by one from last year's 34. Notably, Shinhan Bank's Hong Yu-soon, in her second year, and Woori Bank's Park Hye-mi, in her debut since the 2013-2014 season, both surpassed the 100 million won mark for the first time. This reflects the growth of these players and their strengthened positions within their teams.
There were noticeable changes in salary cap utilization rates by team. The overall average utilization rate was 95.17%, an increase of 1.8 percentage points compared to last year's 93.37%. Samsung Life Insurance and BNK Some each fully utilized their salary caps at 100%, while Shinhan Bank recorded the lowest utilization rate at 83.07%. Notably, the utilization rate for allowances was highest at 84.82% for Shinhan Bank, while Hana Bank showed a significantly low rate of 25.71%. This indicates differences in operational strategies between teams regarding salary allocation.
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