A few weeks ago Liz Cambage set the internet ablaze with what some people perceived as a scathing take against Becky Hammon, who was hired as the coach of the Las Vegas Aces.
Cambage was testing the waters as a free agent and seemed to be on her way out the door, anyway. But it felt like the Hammon tweet sort of sealed the deal with it.
Hammon is set to make $1 million in her first year as the Aces head coach this season. Her deal is for five years, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
It wasn’t the fact that Hammon was hired that had Cambage a bit peeved. It was the fact that she was being paid $1 million in her first season, which is far more than the highest-paid WNBA players make.
That bothered Cambage. So she tweeted about it. It wasn’t about Hammon, in particular. It was about the WNBA’s pay structure and a lack of equity for players. But, of course, that’s not how it was taken. Folks like Nancy Lieberman popped out to shame Cambage and show support for Hammon, but they were completely missing the point.
So, to hammer it home, Cambage made an appearance on ESPN’s NBA Today to talk about her tweet and make clear what she wanted to say.
And her point is that the WNBA should really be rethinking their salary structure in their collective bargaining agreement.
Liz Cambage wants to see the CBA changed in the WNBA:
“I’ve been vocal since day one, I sat out five seasons because I get paid 5-8 times more overseas. … It’s hard when you have the best league in the world, but we’re not treated like the best athletes in the world.” pic.twitter.com/ML4Us11kAK
— ESPN (@espn) February 23, 2022
“At the end of the day, my main issue is with the CBA. I know Nneka and the players association, they did such a great job of getting us a new collective bargaining agreement. But we have owners at the moment that want to do more for us…i.e., this Becky Hammon situation.
Ah, yup. There it is. She continued to explain what she meant by that.
“Becky Hammon is getting a million dollars a year. The salary cap is, what, $1. 4 [million] I think? So it’s tough to know that a few of us are already taking a salary cut to play here…I sat out five seasons because I get paid five to eight times more overseas than I do here in the WNBA. And it’s hard when you want to be at home…a lot of women go overseas to make their main money.”
Cambage is absolutely right. The numbers bear it out. The WNBA salary cap is just over $1.4 million for the 2023 season. The supermax salary in the W is currently $228,094. Hammon is being paid nearly five times more than the highest-paid players in the WNBA right now. That just shouldn’t be.
And that isn’t to single out Hammon, who is absolutely being paid her worth by the Aces. But, regardless of that, WNBA players should be making much more when it’s very clear how much money owners have to spend.
That’s why Cambage believes there needs to be a new collective bargaining agreement for the players. The only issue, though, is that the current one doesn’t expire until 2028. So we’re stuck with this system for a while here.
Still, fans agreed with Cambage. There needs to be some sort of change in the W to make sure this isn’t a thing moving forward.
