Another WNBA All-Star Game is in the books, and besides Friday’s skills event and Saturday’s game, the weekend in Indianapolis also included a meeting between league officials and players over collective bargaining negotiations, as their current deal is set to expire at the end of this season.
Rookie and Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers was among those who participated in both the game and the negotiations.
Grant Afseth is a senior writer for DallasHoopsJournal.com and he was following it all. He joined the Standard to discuss. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Perhaps some fans, the more casual ones, tuning in to the All-Star Game on Saturday may not have known that the players’ union was in talks with league officials over a new bargaining agreement, but the players certainly made a statement when they took to the floor wearing warm-up shirts. Tell us about those.
Grant Afseth: Yeah, they had shirts on both the All-Star teams that had text, “Pay Us What You Owe Us,” as they’re continuing discussions with the league itself on their collective bargaining – kind of like their asks.
There’s a disconnect in multiple conversations between both sides ahead of that expiration that you had mentioned in October.
Tell us more about what it is that the players are asking for and more of the story behind the message, “Pay Us What You Owe Us.”
Yeah, I think a significant part of it is the percentage of basketball-related income that the players are paid from the league as opposed to what the NBA players are paid from their respective deal. It’s a much lower percentage for the WNBA and they have a rights deal from media broadcasting kicking in next season. That’s around $250 million and worth significantly higher than their current deal.
And the players feel that the percentage of basketball-related income should be higher, especially with a lot of expansion. The Golden State Valkyries, for example, they’re, from day one, essentially one of the most valuable franchises and they’re adding more and more in big markets. So I think they’re seeing it as an opportunity to increase that percentage.
And, you know, in essence would increase their overall salaries, but also there’s some concerns as well that could be addressed like roster sizes. They only have 12 players on their rosters. And there’s been quite a few instances, for example, even with the Dallas Wings, when they’ve gotten down to eight players due to injuries. One more would result in forfeiture.
So there’s a lot of like hardship contract players that show up for like a week. And then the rules make it to where they have to automatically be cut when the hardship contract was the cause for returns from injury. And there’s just a lot in and out nature of these jobs, as opposed to having an extra roster spot where they could just be part of your team from training camp and just have the opportunity to step up whenever there’s injuries called.
It would just be better for the overall product if those players were part of a franchise.
Better for the overall product, but they’re basically arguing for more money and the question is whether or not they can squeeze it from the WNBA.
I know that numbers, tickets, sales, attention to the WNBA has really been sharply picking up in the past couple of years, most certainly, but is the league set up to give the players what they want? Have they talked about a specific number, for example?
I believe they’ve kept that private for the most part. We’ll have to learn more once these players return to their teams with the schedule starting up. That’ll likely be a significant topic.
But overall, not a specific percentage yet, but definitely just a higher percentage.
Okay but what about the WNBA? Do they have the money, the funds, to give the players what they want? How well are they doing now?
I think going forward with their new deal, they will be turning a profit – like a comfortable profit – starting next season. And I think that’s probably where this disconnect lies, is the fact that they haven’t turned a profit for a good amount of years throughout their existence.
And then also now the players are seeing the opportunity where the results are coming to fruition of the new deal. So I think, you know, that happy medium will have to be reached at some point.
We have to talk about the game. Buecker’s made a bit of history Saturday, right?
Yes, she did. She was the first player to make one of those four-point shots.
They had a couple of circles, two on each side of the floor, 28 feet – six feet further back from the normal WNBA three-point line. And pretty early in the game, they made it a point to get her the ball and launch one from deep and she knocked that one down.
So the first player to make a four-point shot in the WNBA All-Star Game.
All-star Game, you have four points. How was the rest of her night?
Yeah, she had a quiet night overall. She was mostly looking to pass for her teammates – got a good amount of assists overall, but definitely not one of those players that is looking to score 30 in the All-Star Game.
She’s more so looking to pick her spots and more or less not get injured during a game that doesn’t count.
While she doesn’t play for a Texas team now, another native Texan had a standout night – El Pasoan and former UTEP star Kayla Thornton. What can you tell us about her?
Yeah, she’s someone that went from the New York Liberty, got picked in the expansion draft to the Golden State Valkyries, and she had earned an All-Star appearance almost tripling her scoring average this season.
And just one of the strong stories, I would say, of the WNBA overall, where kind of those success stories of expansion, where players were getting more opportunity to take on larger roles and also roster other players as well, too, that otherwise might not even have a place in the league if the league had fewer teams.
So she’s been the highlight of that, I would say.
