WNBA Mercury G Diana Taurasi yesterday announced that she will skip the '15 season this summer after "accepting an offer from her Russian club to rest," according to Doug Feinberg of the AP. Taurasi was "slated to make just more than $108,000 this year playing for the Mercury -- the third-highest amount on the team;" she "makes roughly" $1.5M playing in Russia for UMMC Ekaterinburg. Taurasi said that she "will play in the WNBA" in '16. UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma said, "I wouldn't be surprised if those players who are making a lot of money overseas, and their livelihood doesn't depend on playing in the WNBA, I wouldn't be surprised if this happens more often, because it's such an unnatural lifestyle." While "top stars can earn salaries in the upper six-figure and low seven-figure range" by playing in European and Chinese leagues, WNBA salaries "top out around $108,000." WNBA President Laurel Richie said that she "doesn't expect star players sitting out to become a trend" (AP, 2/3). In Phoenix, Tyler Killian writes many WNBAers "supplement their career earnings by playing overseas; Taurasi has played in Russia and Turkey and has helped her teams win five EuroLeague championships." Her WNBA contract "will be suspended" for '15, meaning the Mercury "can use that money to pursue other players through free agency or trade" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 2/4).
A BLOW TO THE LEAGUE: ESPN's Ramona Shelburne called Taurasi's announcement "huge" and said, "Diana Taurasi is not just a star in the WNBA. This is the equivalent of LeBron James deciding to sit out a year to rest, Kevin Durant sitting out a year to rest. Phoenix Mercury, they won the WNBA Championship last year. This is the team in the WNBA and they’re not going to have their best player because she needs to rest because the salaries in the WNBA are too low to keep her from turning that down with her Russian team.” Shelburne added, "When somebody like Diana does it, it makes it easier for a Candace Parker to do it, for Brittney Griner to do it, for Elena Delle Donne to do it, for all the stars in the WNBA." There are 40 players who make the max WNBA salary of slightly more than $100,000, and Shelburne said, "There is something wrong with that system. They have got to get salaries for the true superstars in the WNBA higher to make this decision a lot tougher for the stars in this league.” ESPN’s Kevin Negandhi noted this "could be a power move by Diana Taurasi and the players for their CBA as they open things up down the road” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 2/4). ESPNW.com's Kate Fagan wrote this news raises "important, long-term questions for the WNBA," and it might be a "harbinger of what's to come." Many players "have been offered bonuses from their winter clubs to rest during the summer," but prior to Taurasi, no one had "accepted the offer and the WNBA had been able to avoid losing its biggest names, its headline attractions." The WNBA's salary structure "is broken," and if it "wants to keep its stars from sitting out, the league needs to consider restructuring exactly who gets the money." Fagan: "There shouldn't be 40 'max' players; there should be 12, one on each team, and the highest-paid member of the team should be a player -- not the coach" (ESPNW.com, 2/3). In Phoenix, Paola Boivin notes Taurasi "makes a little under the WNBA-allowed maximum salary" with the Mercury. Boivin: "I'm surprised that it didn't happen sooner" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 2/4).
