The 2023 WNBA season will look different from those of the past, with players mandated to report to their teams by the start of the regular season or face suspension. Showing up in time for the ’23 campaign is not necessarily a simple task, with many players competing abroad through the WNBA offseason and certain international leagues extending into the spring. Mercury star Brittney Griner’s release from Russian imprisonment after being wrongfully detained for 10 months has highlighted the potential risks involved in WNBA players competing abroad while underscoring the financial incentives that draw talent overseas.
Griner was competing for Russian club UMMC Ekaterinburg when she was arrested at a Moscow-area airport, with officials accusing the 32-year-old of possessing less than a gram of cannabis. Like many of her WNBA counterparts, Griner has long supplemented her league income with lucrative international contracts. Storm guard Breanna Stewart was one of the highest-paid players in the WNBA last season, raking in a salary of $228,094, a fraction of the $1.5 million she reportedly made playing for UMMC Ekaterinburg in one season. The former WNBA MVP has since signed with Turkey’s Fenerbahce Safiport, with Hungary and Turkey emerging as top destinations for WNBA players no longer competing in Russia. Sun center Jonquel Jones, who also plays in Turkey, told ESPN that she makes her WNBA yearly salary in one month overseas.
Those who play abroad will have a quick turnaround come the 2023 preseason, with a prioritization clause going into effect this year. The rule states that players who do not return to their WNBA teams for training camp will be fined, and those who aren’t back for the start of the season will be suspended. In ’24, the mandate is stricter, with athletes facing suspension if they don’t report to their team by the start of training camp. Prioritization was agreed upon by the players and the league as a part of the WNBA’s ’20 collective bargaining agreement.
The move is meant to incentivize players to stay stateside during the offseason and prioritize the WNBA over other competitive opportunities. But the issue remains that athletes, especially star players, make exponentially more money overseas than they do in the WNBA. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, however, is looking to change that. “We have to build an economic model,” Engelbert said during a press conference following Griner’s December release. “We are only 26 years young. We are building rivalries. We are building household names.”
A part of Engelbert’s attempt to keep WNBA players in-market during the offseason is through league marketing agreements. The commissioner told reporters that the league has 10 players under contract for this offseason, a jump from last year’s three. For the lesser-known athletes and for those who don’t get offered marketing deals, Engelbert points to opportunities provided that help with the post-basketball transition. “There are also internship opportunities that aren’t part of big marketing agreements like the stars might get or endorsements from corporations,” said Engelbert, adding that those programs are designed to help players hone skills necessary for their post-playing careers.
Whether the current slate of opportunities offered by the WNBA is enough to incentivize its players to stay put during the offseason remains to be seen. Come May, it will become clear whether the league’s prioritization bargain has paid off when the WNBA’s stars are summoned back to training camp.
