Equality For the WNBA

It’s time for people to put respect on the WNBA. Sports fans may push back on that idea and say “hey, their game is not as entertaining as the men.” Which as a basketball fan isn’t true. If you know basketball and love basketball you know the women’s games are just as entertaining. But I understand why the pay gap will never be equal, and I get it. It’s a business, it’s about sponsors, broadcasting, merchandise etc, that generates this huge financial pot that the men get paid from.

My personal problem with the pay gap is you have guys on the bench that never get in the game, and get paid more in salary than a star like Candace Parker or Sue Bird; and these are WNBA legends. No, I’m not saying “oh they can beat those guys,” I’m just saying as notable figures of the league they should at least be closer in pay to a NBA bench warmer that no one knows. Even though I bet anyone that Cynthia Cooper in her prime could beat a lot of dudes in the NBA, because she was the definition of a tough skilled baller.

Right now, for the WNBA it must be about respect. Respect the women’s game. You hear the phrase basketball never sleep and for women in the WNBA that statement is so true, they have to go overseas and play in the off season so they can get a higher wage. So, they can get that respect.

The high maximum salary for 2020 WNBA season is going to be about $215,000, and the 2020 salary cap will be about $1.3 million. The NBA minimum salary is about $898, 310. Those numbers are outrageous. We’re talking about the max pay for women not coming remotely close to the minimum pay for a man.

I know sports has always been a male-dominated field, which is why the systematic oppression of women in the sports industry is so blatant. It goes back to women as a whole not getting our just due in the work field period.  Women have to fight twice as hard to be taken serious when they play sports, and if you’ve ever read a comment on social media about the WNBA it’s brutal. Brutal to the point where you have to wonder if some of these men hate women, or hate the fact that there are women that can ball better than them. It’s downright disgusting. I wonder if these same critics of the WNBA have daughters that play ball and dream of being in the WNBA. And if so, what do they say to them. Do they just crush their dreams?

There are young boys growing up that eat sleep and breathe basketball, and there are young girls growing up who eat sleep and breathe basketball as well. We keep saying representation matters, and the same holds true for women in sports. When a little girl sees that their basketball dreams of being pro can be achieved here in the US and they can make a career out of their dream that’s just beautiful. But it starts by promoting, supporting, and paying the women in the WNBA their worth, which is just as much as what men are paid in the NBA.

The statement that ” no one wants to watch women play basketball”, is the first issue I think must be tackled before the wage gap. Viewership. The WNBA can be bigger. It’s a great game to watch, and the support for the WNBA must start with women. If we don’t support it, we can’t be mad at men for not supporting. We also have to show the youth that the passion the WNBA players play with is the same as that of the guys in the NBA.

The women of the WNBA can’t keep fighting their fight alone. It’s time for the men of the NBA to step up. One of the best example is Kyrie Irving committing $1.5 million to supplement the income of players who chose not to play this season, whether because of coronavirus concerns or social justice reasons. This gesture by Kyrie is dope on so many levels, because he’s really extending a hand and showing his support to these women. That’s what more of the men of the NBA need to do. I’m not trying to be in everyone’s pocket and tell them how to spend their money, but when people see them step up for the women, real change can occur. Whenever you have an impactful group come together, that’s when real change happen. So this summer take the time to support the WNBA. Watch the games and buy their merchandise, and maybe, just maybe we’ll see their salaries get at a little closer to their male counterparts.