LandonBuford.com
NBA

WNBA Teams Fly Commercial, While NBA Teams Fly Charter Ultimately Causing A Canceled Game

Last month Las Vegas Aces's forward A'Ja Wilson made headlines after it was announced that now Lakers' Small Forward LeBron James would be signing a 154 Million Dollar contract. The deal is for the…

Landon Buford9 min read
NBA

WNBA Teams Fly Commercial, While NBA Teams Fly Charter Ultimately Causing A Canceled Game

Last month Las Vegas Aces's forward A'Ja Wilson made headlines after it was announced that now Lakers' Small Forward LeBron James would be signing a 154 Million Dollar contract. The deal is for the next four seasons and prompted Wilson to tweet out the message below. Her teammate point guard Kelsey Plum would tweet out that WNBA players are not looking to be compensated in the same capacity as their male counterparts, but they are looking to increase their stake in the revenue share to 50 percent. Right now their current CBA deal gives them around 20 percent according to Plum. Diana Taurasi jumped into the conversation during an interview with See Hendo. "We have been talking about this for the past ten years, and it is the same adage. She would continue by stating that it is going to take drastic measures to get anything done. You can talk about it, and you can post it on Instagram we had an opportunity four years ago to take a stand as players. Instead, we took a bad CBA deal and anytime where you want something to make a difference you have to be willing to risk it all. At that time we weren't, and we took a bad deal, and now we are in the same position we were 12 years ago. Not making a lot of money and not many improvements as a league we eventually have to take a stand as players." During an interview, with Phoenix Mercury's center Brittney Griner later that evening via The Hype Magazine after their road game in Dallas Texas. I asked her the same question about equal pay in the WNBA and here is what Griner had to say, We should get paid more I don’t know where it is supposed to come from that is not my job. That is somebody else’s job, but we should definitely get paid more there is no reason why should have to go overseas to make a living… All we hear is that it is going to get better and we are working on it… So, what is happening?  Because we do not see it in our paychecks.” Said Griner, I would follow up that question with asking did they plan on teaming up with Hope Solo, because she is having similar issues with the Team USA Soccer Federation to try to figure it out across the board? Griner would continue by stating: I mean at this point; maybe we should go on strike and not play and see if anybody cares at this point I would be willing to do it. At this point, it is not getting any better talking about it. It is going to come down to at the end of my career why the hell am I still playing in the WNBA. Like I am playing for what?  To hurt myself, so I can not go overseas? And honestly, if I weren’t with the Phoenix Mercury, I would not be playing right now in the WNBA for What? Why? You do your job to make money to support you. This is not doing anything overseas is. So, I am not going to put that off forever!" NBA All-Stars Damian Lillard and Demar DeRozan chimed in on the conversation as well, voicing their support for women's game. Damian Lillard said to Her Hoop Stats: “They deserve a lot more respect. They deserve to make a lot more money than they do. I think it’s time people start recognizing that they are professional athletes and they should be treated like it and their league should be elevated…” DeRozan would also speak on the topic “Women’s game, in general, is awesome. I think they deserve way more recognition than what they’re getting and tonight’s game is a great example of that. The excitement, how hard they play…” told Her Hoop Stats
— Her Hoop Stats (@herhoopstats) July 8, 2018 .@DeMar_DeRozan: “Women’s game, in general, is awesome. I think they deserve way more recognition than what they’re getting and tonight’s game is a great example of that. The excitement, how hard they play...” @WNBA #wnba #WatchMeWork pic.twitter.com/rtkxCtkKGO Two weeks ago during an interview with the Big 3 executives, I asked them to share their thoughts on the pay concerns in the WNBA and how this issue could be resolved? "One thing that Cube and Jeff did in structuring our league was to make it clear from the outset in the manner we are structured with all of our communication. We work with our players and we work with our coaches they are a part of building this league with us. We are not looking to build it on their backs without regard to their contributions and input. And all the business issues to which you just referred to with respect to whether its WNBA issues, NFL issues, or any issues. I'm not going to comment on how the WNBA can approach this or how these problems can be addressed, but I will comment strongly that one of the things that thrilled me about the opportunity to join Jeff Jeff Kwatinetz and Ice Cube was the dramatically different approach that these men took to building a league with players, and not on the backs of the players." Said Big 3 Chairman of the Board, Amy Trask. Trask would continue, "look I have spent almost 30 years working for Al Davis, who told me from day one of my career working in the NFL, kid the players are the game, and he was right! The players are the game it is far easier to go out and find a lawyer or a front office executive than a player. Jeff and Cube recognized from the beginning that we needed to build this league with our players, and that is what distinguishes us from those issues that other leagues are currently having to deal with." Last week the Las Vegas Aces were supposed to play the Washington Mystics, but the game was canceled due to being stranded at the airport for 24 hours.  The Aces arrived at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport at 11 am for their 1 PM commercial flight on Thursday, August 2, 2018. This seems like a perfect amount of time to fly into Washington DC before they had to face the Mystics the next day at 7 PM.  After dealing with numerous flight delays, Aces players began to voice their frustrations via Twitter. The team would end up boarding four separate planes between 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. in route to Dallas, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. After arriving in Dallas, the Aces had another two and a half delay before boarding their flight to Washington DC. The Aces were able to catch a couple of hours of sleep in Dallas before they departed. At this point, it was less than 12 hours before tipoff. The Aces finally arrived in Washington DC after their traveling nightmare. At first, The WNBA wanted to push the game back an hour but ultimately decided to cancel the game. Here is a side note NBA teams charter planes, while WNBA players fly commercial. The Mystics beat the Dallas Wings 76-74 improve their record to 16-11, while the Wings 14-14 and currently on a five-game losing streak. They are now in the eight and final spot. Before the All-Star Break, Dallas Wings All-Star Skylar Diggins-Smith talked about the league not taking care of the players they fly commercial. All the traveling throughout the season, but every team has to endure the same schedule.
A'ja WilsonAl DavisAmy TraskBrittney GrinerDallasDamian LillardDemar DeRozanDiana TaurasiHer Hoops StatsHope SoloIce CubeJeff Jeff Kwatinetz

More from NBA