STAYING IN SCHOOL?
On the surface, what Candace Parker did last night was admirable.
Her Tennessee Volunteers had just topped Rutgers and won the 2007 NCAA Women’s Tournament. The WNBA-eligible forward stood at half-court, smiling that smile, ready for someone to pop the question. And her answer was loud and definitive: “Why wouldn’t I come back and wear orange another year?” Then, she tugged on her white-and-orange Vols jersey. The crowd cheered.
It’s something most men simply won’t do. After LSU won the Sugar Bowl last January, quarterback JaMarcus Russell, likely the number one pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, hid behind a cloud of “checking out his options” and “talking things over with his family” when asked about his future. Fellow hoops stars Greg Oden and Kevin Durant have also kept their plans under wraps, both stating that they’d like to stay in school but also recognizing that they’re sitting on winning lottery tickets.
For Parker, though, her decision to stay in school actually wasn't really a decision at all. The New York Times ran an article today about the WNBA and the money that new players stand to make. The most notable aspects were the statistics about salaries for the current crop of American pro players. The top four players in the WNBA Draft this year (Parker would have gone first) stand to make just a shade over $43,000 per season. Overall, no player in the league can make more than $93,000 in a season. And during last night’s telecast of the Tennessee/Rutgers women’s title game, the commentators noted that, if she chose to, Parker could also opt to play in Russia for, get this, between $600,000 and $1 million. But, that, of course, would require her to move overseas.
So, her options would be to stay in school for another year and get a degree, move away from everything she knows to play pro ball in another country or jump to the WNBA and make a comparably palsy salary?
Why wouldn’t she come back and wear orange another year?
de.licio.us
digg
Furl
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Comments
1.
That Dude says:
$43Gs to play pro sports? under 100K for the best in the league? will women's basketball ever really start to make money? shouldn't there be some good sponsorship opps out there or something? your girl can't get an adidas contract and teach the truth to the youth? anyone got numbers on participation -- assuming more girls playing ball everyday, right? your girl can't catch a real check to promote that?
04/08/2007 at 2:03 AM