In case you missed it, earlier this week the draft for the WNBA was held. It was a pretty exciting time as some of the players we have come to know and love were introduced to their new homes and a potentially new fan base. It should have be a happy and joyous occasion, but unfortunately it was marred by the realities of the world we live in. A world that is so set in the status quo that any push back on said status quo is met with disdain, ridicule, and anger.
Before we get to that though, let's talk about who went where. I'm not going to give you a complete breakdown of the draft, if you want to see that, you can find it here. I am going to cover some of the players who I have come to know and love or at least respect over the past few months.
It shouldn't be any surprise Caitlin Clark went first in the draft to the Indiana Fever. The insanely tall center from national champions South Carolina Kamilla Cardoso went third in the draft and was picked up by the Chicago Sky.
Jacy Sheldon who played at Ohio State went 5th in the draft and she is heading to the Dallas Wings. Jacy went to the high school that both my nieces attended, so we have a bit of an affinity for her even though she didn't get the headlines that some of the other players did.
Finally in an interesting turn of events, the animosity between LSU and South Carolina in that epic SEC conference battle will have to be put on hold as Angel Reese was also drafted by the Chicago Sky. These ladies are professionals and I have zero doubt going from rivals to teammates probably won't be too big of a step for either Reese or Cardoso.
That's as far as I am going to go in the draft. Now for the bad news.
No lie, if this doesn't just boil your blood, I might have to assume you are an AI bot or something. I was reading this article the other day and I was absolutely floored at the revelations that were brought to light.
Imagine you are the #1 draft pick in a sport that has basically blown up in the last three to five years. You just finished a tournament run that saw sold out stadiums and pulled in more viewers than the men's basketball tournament only to sign your contract and see that you are making something like $350,000 USD across four years.
Don't get me wrong, that's a decent amount of money. I am not questioning that, but when you compare it to the fact that the recent NBA #1 pick signed a four year contract worth 55 million dollars, you can clearly see there is a bit of a disparity.
Sure, you might point out that Clark will make her real income on promotions, sponsorship, and advertising deals, but that isn't really the point is it? I don't claim to be an activist, I'm not super "woke", and I don't think there is a conspiracy around every corner, but when a pay gap this glaringly obvious is staring you in the face, you would have to be daft to ignore it or explain it away.
One might argue the NBA players worked for years to get their salary where it is. Years that the WNBA didn't even exist, and while factually, you might be correct, does that really still make it okay? Do you want to live in a world where that does make it okay?
I don't know, I wouldn't want to look my niece in the eye and say sorry, that's just the way it is, their league has been around longer...
There's probably some truth to the idea that WNBA franchises can't afford to pay that kind of money. At least not yet, but if they start selling out stadiums every game... There better be some more hard questions asked about the wage gap.
What do you think? Do those numbers shock you? Let's talk about it in the comments!
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