Shaquille O’ Neal is becoming a member of the WNBA gamers of their combat to earn greater salaries.
Throughout an interview with Bailey Jackson, the NBA legend realized that A’Ja Wilson, a seven-time All-Star who additionally has a signature shoe cope with Nike, makes $200k a 12 months with the Las Vegas Aces.
“She must be making $10 million a 12 months,” O’Neal replied. “I by no means knew this…Actually.”
O’Neal then floated an answer to the WNBA’s gamers’ income drawback: He believes that decreasing the edges would enable ladies to dunk extra simply, which might enhance viewership.
“You wanna make more cash? Let Caitlin go baseline and fingertip dunk. Let Angel [Reese] do her layup like that, let her flip that wrist one time endlessly and throw it down, man,” O’Neal argued. “Belief me on this.”
O’ Neal’s commentary stems from the WNBA gamers utilizing the platform through the All-Star Weekend to lift the problem of pay fairness. Throughout the warmup, a number of gamers wore shirts that learn “Pay Us What You Owe Us,” a robust assertion signaling their solidarity as they’re negotiating a brand new collective bargaining settlement with the league.
Beneath the present CBA, WNBA gamers reportedly obtain solely about 9.3% of the league’s income. That is considerably decrease than the NBA, the place the gamers obtain between 49% and 51% of basketball-related revenue. WNBA gamers are demanding a bigger proportion of income share, and need their salaries to develop because the league grows financially as a substitute of being a hard and fast proportion.
In 2024, the league signed a historic media rights deal value $2.2 billion over the subsequent 11 years, averaging $200 million per 12 months as a result of unprecedented progress of the league.