WNBA thread… 28.5 ain’t your pay cut

[franticscribe]

It's absolutely already a thing in men's basketball that players are staying in college longer because the money is roughly equal anyway. Like, Atlantic 10 level teams are paying starters $50k to $250k. If you're getting that much, you're exhausting your eligibility vs. playing in Lithuania for a couple years, unless you're a guaranteed first round pick. And for the WNBA specifically, the CBA expires on Oct. 31. That contributes to players staying in college if they can, along with things like Stewart signing a one-year deal even though she certainly leverage to get as many years as she wants.

The expiring CBA is huge. Salaries will go up significantly under the next CBA as the league is experiencing a bonanza of revenue growth, a good bit of which will make it back to the players under the new CBA, which should hopefully be in place by the 2026 season.

Can LSU pay Johnson more than what her roughly $77,000 rookie salary be if she came out this year? Yes. Would they still be able to after the new CBA goes into effect and those salaries go up significantly? I guess we'll see.

 

[HanSenSE]

 

[nickp]

Olivia Miles is playing this perfectly Get that NIL bag which is way more than wnba rookie contract and by waiting a year the wnba will have a new cba

 

[micropolitan guy]

WNBA's got a problem

LSU star Johnson to skip WNBA draft, source says

LSU star guard Flau'Jae Johnson is opting to skip the 2025 WNBA draft and will return to college basketball for her senior season, a source told ESPN on Thursday.

www.espn.com

When a player would rather spend another year with Kim Mulkey than join your league, you've got a problem.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Just to note that Elena Delle Donne, unquestionably the greatest athlete from my home town of Wilmington, Del., announced her retirement today.

 

[Chef2]

Olivia Miles is playing this perfectly Get that NIL bag which is way more than wnba rookie contract and by waiting a year the wnba will have a new cba

Bold decision Cotton.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Just to note that Elena Delle Donne, unquestionably the greatest athlete from my home town of Wilmington, Del., announced her retirement today.