Taurasi to sit out 2015 WNBA Season

[Farney]

Kate Fagan ‏@katefagan3 4m4 minutes ago
Diana Taurasi will skip the 2015 WNBA season. The star's club team has offered her $ to rest this summer. She accepted.

 

[ndmb]

It was just a matter of time before this started happening. Overseas pays much better money, and playing 12 months a year for a whole career just isn't realistic.

 

[ndmb]

She's coming back in 2016, according to her letter to fans.

 

[msf22b]

It make a whole lot of sense for UMMC Ekaterinburg to pay her an honorarium equal to or greater than her WNBA salary to not play the grueling, grossly underpaid, WNBA season.

Although some will deride this decision, it makes perfect business sense.

Is this the beginning of the end for the WNBA?
Will they begin to compensate their athletes more appropriately?

Or will they just soldier on?

 

[bschwartz]

Good for her...probably a great move for her.

 

[ThisJustIn]

Can't compensate "appropriately" when the money isn't there. If fans don't want to watch professional women's basketball, the W won't survive. Unlike college ball, it doesn't have Title IX to force schools to keep it around.

 

[HuskiesU]

She deserved it we got to see 15 years of greatness and she'll be back better than ever. #DourthingD #BesteverDT

 

[EricLA]

As a fan I'm disappointed. She's a joy to watch. I'm sure her teammates are not thrilled nor are the Phoenix fans. Having said that, I don't blame her and it's not surprising.

 

[CocoHusky]

She's coming back in 2016, according to her letter to fans.

Just wondering, 2016 is Olympic year, wouldn’t it make more sense for her to take off from WNBA in Summer of 2016 and only have European season and Olympics. That is a tall order to come back to.-Full European season + WNBA + Olympics. I miss her already! First no CP on world Championship team, looks like Sue Bird will not be on Olympic team and now no Diana for a whole WNBA season. Thank goodness I still have Maya.

 

[Farney]

Great article on ESPN by Kate Fagan. Gives a bit of background on WNBA and foreign salaries and possible ways to fix the broken WNBA salary structure.

http://espn.go.com/wnba/story/_/id/12272036/diana-taurasi-decision-sit-spark-wnba-salary-changes

 

[Huskyin808]

I think this is sad news, but not bad news.

Congrats to DT! IF the league or Diana thought this would be bad for the WNBA as a whole, wouldn't she be more incline to negotiate or play?

 

[rocky rococo]

Dropping this year makes sense. Lose out this year, increase the chance of getting a lottery pick next year, Stewart/Loyd/MoJetts.

 

[01Neaggrad02]

So she does not play... and lets say they do horrible for the season.. end up with the first pick in the 2016 draft... who do they go for

 

[Aluminny69]

Is this the beginning of the end for the WNBA?

Or will they just soldier on?

I was thinking the same thing. What if Griner follows suit? DT is a marque player who fills seats. If more marque players decide to "rest", the WNBA goes down the toilet. The cycle starts, less fans, less money, less top players, less fans, etc.

 

[hoopsdiva]

Wow. I'm sure DT is doing the best thing for her, and I support her entirely in her decision.

I doubt that DT's absence weakens Phoenix enough to make them a legitimate contender in the #StinkForStewie sweepstakes. But the thought did cross my mind.

 

[arch]

Will they begin to compensate their athletes more appropriately?

With what? Profits?

 

[EricLA]

The thing is she makes $107,000 playing for the Mercury. She makes $1.5 million playing for the Russian team. It's a no brainer!!

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

Several thoughts, as a Phoenician:

1) This could prolong her WNBA playing career, by not playing year round and resting when she can.
2) This type of contract could kill the WNBA, if the big American stars all decided to sit out a WNBA season in favor of a lucrative foreign contract saying they would be paid to sit.
3) Taurasi was obviously in contact with the Mercury front office to discuss the situation and to coordinate her letter to the fans.
4) She may still be in Phoenix this summer, just not playing. I have a feeling the Mercury will coordinate appearances and marketing opportunities to keep her involved with the fan base and to promote the team.

...and most importantly...

5) #TankForStewie

 

[vtcwbuff]

"If fans don't want to watch professional women's basketball, the W won't survive. . . . "

Ayup! A few more high profile players sitting out and the W is a goner. It's really pathetic that the best they can do to compensate an elite player is 107K.

In any case - good for Taurasi. Her skill, her career and her body.

 

[j66kicker]

Great article on ESPN by Kate Fagan. Gives a bit of background on WNBA and foreign salaries and possible ways to fix the broken WNBA salary structure.

http://espn.go.com/wnba/story/_/id/12272036/diana-taurasi-decision-sit-spark-wnba-salary-changes

Kate Fagan's solution is "quit paying mediocre players as much as Taurasi." She says 36 players make roughly the $107K league maximum. So some quick math: if 25 of those 36 players are considered "mediocre" and got a $50,000 pay cut, that pay cut would fund $1.25 million of increases for the remaining 11 "elite" players, or an average increase of $114K each. For some this might be enough to keep them playing in the summer. How many?

But then the 25 really good players who got the pay cuts would be more inclined to forego the NBA. So keep them happy by giving the $75,000 players a $25,000 pay cut. Etc, etc. It just doesn't work. The problem is there isn't enough revenue, meaning there aren't enough fans. The solution has to be to somehow make the game more appealing to mainstream sports fans.

 

[MilfordHusky]

The thing is she makes $107,000 playing for the Mercury. She makes $1.5 million playing for the Russian team. It's a no brainer!!

Incredible disparity in salary!

I'm looking for an offer to sit out the summer for $107K.

 

[ndmb]

Kate Fagan's solution is "quit paying mediocre players as much as Taurasi." She says 36 players make roughly the $107K league maximum. So some quick math: if 25 of those 36 players are considered "mediocre" and got a $50,000 pay cut, that pay cut would fund $1.25 million of increases for the remaining 11 "elite" players, or an average increase of $114K each. For some this might be enough to keep them playing in the summer. How many?

But then the 25 really good players who got the pay cuts would be more inclined to forego the NBA. So keep them happy by giving the $75,000 players a $25,000 pay cut. Etc, etc. It just doesn't work. The problem is there isn't enough revenue, meaning there aren't enough fans. The solution has to be to somehow make the game more appealing to mainstream sports fans.

I dunno, if every WNBA team has 3 max players, I'm going to guess that this isn't a zero sum game. I'm not saying that overall revenue isn't the broader concern, but this really suggests to me that the available salary money isn't being efficiently distributed. If I were an elite prospect, who was looking at $100k in the US and $6-700K in China or Russia, it's easy to imagine feeling like I have to play overseas, or even cut out the WNBA entirely. If the WNBA would pay me $200k, it's a lot easier to imagine that that would be enough and I would feel justified in skipping out on the long, often lonely, overseas season.

Ultimately, the stars are the one's who are going to draw fans, and the stars are the one's who are being targeted with extremely lucrative contracts. I think that Renee Montgomery is on a max contract. No offense to her, but if a one time all-star is getting paid as much as Diana, the cap is obviously too low to reflect value to the team.

 

[msf22b]

With what? Profits?

I never said anything about profits
Do you think the Russian team has much in the way of profits?…especially now

 

[msf22b]

I was thinking the same thing. What if Griner follows suit? DT is a marque player who fills seats. If more marque players decide to "rest", the WNBA goes down the toilet. The cycle starts, less fans, less money, less top players, less fans, etc.

It certainly looks like the first shot in a trend…Maya, Brit, et al…really does not make business sense for the top echelon to do in their bodies for peanuts.

 

[Farney]

I'll be curious to see if Penny Taylor sits out too (my guess is yes) and whether this starts a trend of big stars resting more. Heck, could be the right time for Griner to rest, regardless of how young she is. Phoenix missing playoffs this year wouldn't necessarily hurt the franchise considering the 2016 draft.