Professional basketball and the salary gap

For the first time, this year, intrigued by the press surrounding rookie WNBA player, Caitlan Clark, I watched several Women’s National Basketball Association games.

Here’s what I learned: on my very best day in the top shape of my life, I would never have been able to successfully play against any of these women. It was amazing to watch them.

Caitlan Clark, of course, is the rookie who played for the University of Iowa before being drafted in the first round by the Indiana Fever. Clark was recently named the WNBA Rookie of the Year.

She is, arguably, the most popular player in the WNBA. She has been credited, rightly or wrongly, with raising the profile of the WNBA significantly.

A discussion has commenced on the huge salary gap between members of the NBA, the men’s league, and the athletes of the WNBA. The number one draft pick in the WNBA, Caitlin Clark, received a salary of $76,535.

Zaccharie Risacher, the NBA first round draft pick netted a whopping $12,600,000 for his rookie year with the Atlanta Hawks.

Quite a huge gap. So, is this gap radically unfair?

Well, let’s do a reality check. The NBA was formed in 1946. The WNBA was organized in 1996, a full fifty years later. The NBA generates “billions and billions” of dollars each year in revenue. The WNBA generates only about $200 million annually. That is obviously a huge gap.

The WNBA has a team salary cap of $1,463,200 for each of the twelve teams. The thirty NBA teams also have a team salary cap, but it varies from a high of $130,348,501 to a low of $237,706,956.

The WNBA Rookie of the Year will receive a financial incentive of over $5,000 while the NBA Rookie of the year receives no financial reward for being so named.

Simply put, the NBA is far older, larger, and tremendously more popular and profitable than the WNBA. It’s not an issue of gender but it is an issue of numbers. It is also an issue of skill. Anyone who has followed both leagues has to concede that the NBA players are more skilled.

In the final WNBA championship game between the Los Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty, far too many easy lay-ups were missed, as were a large percentage of three-point shots.

NBA players are taller and faster and have the ability to dunk the basketball. The testosterone factor makes them likely to be more aggressive in the way they play. Put an NBA team up against a WNBA team and the men will dominate every single time.

If the WNBA can continue to field exciting and entertaining players like Caitlin Clark and if the league is able to expand into new venues, secure television contracts, and feature exciting contests, then revenue will increase, fans will be created and drawn, and perhaps the salary gap will begin to close.

In any event, the WNBA brings together the finest women’s basketball players in the nation and the games are well worth watching. The team I have chosen as my favorite, the Indiana Fever, made it to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. They were eliminated early, but they’ll be back.

The New York Liberty won the championship in the final seconds for their first championship in the team’s twenty-eight year history, defeating the Las Vegas Aces who were trying for their fifth title.

Perhaps next season, I’ll take in an Atlanta Dream game … especially if the Indiana Fever comes to town!

[David Epps is the Rector of the Cathedral of Christ the King. Worship services are on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. and on livestream at www.ctk.life. He is the bishop of the Diocese of the Mid-South (www.midsouthdiocese.life). He has been a weekly opinion columnist for The Citizen for over 27 years. He may be contacted at davidepps@ctk.life.]