WNBA Players Actually Complaining About Lebron James' Salary Is Mind Blowing
In case you missed it, after Lebron James signed his $154 million deal with the Lakers, there were some WNBA players who were unhappy on social media.
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Now, guys like Damian Lillard and Demar Derozen are backing them.
Of course they are backing them. What the hell are they supposed to say? “No, we think the WNBA is paying them enough since we basically keep them afloat” ? That would go over well. Those ‘The NBA is sexist’ headlines would just write themselves.
So since they can’t say it, I will. Anyone who thinks this is a gender inequality issue is an idiot. And this whole “if you don’t like women’s sports as much as men’s, then you’re sexist” thing is straight up bullshit.
Men’s basketball is wildly more entertaining. And this is coming from a girl who played basketball, coached basketball and covered basketball. Numbers don’t lie.
It’s not sexist to say that the NBA is more entertaining than the WNBA. It’s not sexist to say that the NBA should 1000% pay their athletes better than the WNBA pays theirs. It’s not sexist to say one of the only reasons the WNBA exists is because the NBA carries it like Lebron carried the Cavs last season.
And it’s not sexist to say that it’s laugh out loud funny for any WNBA player to pop off about Lebron James’ salary.
All of those things are the truth. I’m not saying that these women aren’t incredible athletes. Of course they are. I’m also not saying that the wage gap doesn’t exist in some industries. Of course it does.
But the WNBA just doesn’t make enough money to pay its players what the NBA does. Period. The NBA gives players a bigger percentage of the revenue because their league brings in waaaay more revenue.
This isn’t an example of a wage gap here, folks.
It’s an income gap. It’s a ratings gap. It’s a “we’re playing in entirely different leagues” gap. It’s a “the NBA brought in $7.4 billion (with a B) revenue and the WNBA brought in $25 million revenue” gap. (via Las Vegas Review-Journal)
I wasn’t great at economics in college, but I don’t think this is that hard to grasp. Seems pretty fair to me. Anybody who throws a bunch of numbers and stats to try to prove otherwise isn’t using logic and common sense.
If WNBA players think they deserve more money, fine. They absolutely have that right. Maybe they should start with asking to get rid of the $115,500 salary cap. That would be more than fair. Again, these women are the best at what they do.
But call me crazy, there is a BIG difference in “pay us more” and “pay us like Lebron.”
FWIW, the average NBA franchise is worth $1.65 billion, while half of the 12 WNBA teams LOSE money. Completely different businesses. At this point, the only similarity that the NBA and the WNBA is that there is “basketball” in the title. Apples and oranges.
Crazy thought here, but if you threw in a ‘Lebron vs. the Vegas Aces’ game every once in a while, I bet more people would watch. That may be dramatic for a post vacation week Monday, but it would be pretty damn entertaining. I mean, shit, I’d probably tune in to the WNBA for the first time ever.