thelesterlee
We cannot start the WNBA calendar without a conversation about how underpaid these women are. This year’s debate has been started by former Aces star, Liz Cambage, tweeting about new head coach, Becky Hammon, and her salary.
ahhh yes the @WNBA, where a head coach can get paid 4X the highest paid players super max contract. lmao and y’all think imma spend another season upgrading my seat on a flight to get to games out of my own pocket.
— Elizabeth Cambage (@ecambage) February 1, 2022
People in the WNBA community were flabbergasted by these comments. ESPN’s Holly Rowe had a whole television rant shaking her finger at Cambage for bringing down other women when they’re all fighting for the same goal.
Here’s what Rowe said about Cambage’s concerns:
“Becky Hammon spent 15 years in the WNBA as an undrafted player, made her way, became one of the greatest of all time. Becky Hammon earned every penny she’s about to get paid because of her lifetime work in the WNBA, and players like Liz Cambage got paid more because of some of the work Becky Hammon did. So let’s celebrate a woman getting a million dollar contract in the league instead of women tearing each other down.”
Andddd, here’s some more shit Rowe said:
“I’ve actually heard that Las Vegas was not going to re-sign her and so that might be some anger coming out about that. This tweet really rubbed me the wrong way. Put some respect on Becky Hammon’s name. Becky Hammon played in the WNBA for 15 years and the work she did getting paid a lot less than Liz Cambage are what has made your contracts possible. So Becky Hammon has earned every dollar that she makes in this contract, and I think that it’s important to know the history of the league and the players who helped build it.”
It’s not difficult to understand Holly Rowe’s frustration. Becky Hammon is one of the greatest players in WNBA history and had an even lower salary than Cambage’s generation of players are currently receiving. She’d been skipped over NBA head coaching jobs since joining the San Antonio Spurs as an assistant in 2014. NBA teams go out of their way to hire former Spurs assistants yet Hammon had to wait nearly a decade for an opportunity and it didn’t even happen in the NBA.
In a way, Rowe is correct. Hammon paved the way and paid her dues. Becky Hammon is about to become the first WNBA coach to exceed a $1 million salary. The problem is, Liz Cambage made just over $200,000 last season. The 30-year 4-time All-Star and 4-time All WNBA player makes a fraction of what her potential new head coach is making.
Again, Holly Rowe is correct but only if you care about optics. Women shouldn’t tear each other down and blah blah. Sure.
But Liz Cambage is also right. The person she’s complaining about happens to be a woman but that has absolutely nothing to do with the point she’s making. Every year we hear stories about WNBA players having to fly coach or having the shittiest hotel accommodations when they travel. If there’s enough money to give a coach $1 million then there is no reason why these players can’t get a bigger slice of the pie. The WNBA has Sylvia Fowles sleeping on cardboard next to an open trash fire in an alley and people want to turn the discourse into some sisterhood shit.
This doesn’t need to be a situation where we all ride for Becky Hammon. She’s doing fine. She’s not the one that needs to be supported right now. I will never forgive the WNBA for paying these players so little they are forced to travel overseas to play in the offseason which led to Breanna Stewart tearing her achilles two seasons ago.
The WNBA is coming off the biggest capital raise in the history of women’s sports. They have cash in their pockets and that money needs to be transferred into the bank accounts of these women asap.
