The National Basketball Association (NBA) has the biggest presence in basketball and as a result controls the way the money flows to its different franchises, players and mini leagues. The NBA recently announced that it would be issuing ‘Select Contracts’ worth $125,000 each to players in the G League for a 12 month period to convince them to not go one and done in college.
The NBA’s minor league is referred to as the G League and was founded back in 2001 and was then known as the National Basketball Development League. The G-League looks to foster young talent from its 27 league teams and broadcasts these games via Twitch.
Players who get selected to the G-League get on a yearly salary of $35,000. Now players who perform well will be eligible to receive a ‘Select Contract’ that will be worth 3.5 times their base salary. This is a lucrative deal for G League players and goes to show how much the NBA is willing to invest to develop budding talent.
ESPN
When news broke that G-League players would have the opportunity to receive a ‘Select Contract’, WNBA players were not very happy and that is not surprising. This is because WNBA players don’t get as much money, exposure and appreciation than their male counterparts and that is creating a lot of unrest.
Skylar Diggins-Smith who plays for the Dallas Wings has been one of the players who has been pushing for the NBA to provide their female players with better benefits while A’ja Wilson took to Twitter to post a sarcastic tweet saying she wanted one of those ‘select contracts’.
Hahahahahahahahhahahahahaha let me get one of these “select contracts” https://t.co/80zcLpdGOL
— A'ja Wilson (@_ajawilson22) October 18, 2018
In a statement, Skylar Diggins-Smith said
People try to hijack this issue and say that women’s basketball may not be as interesting a game, because they disparage women in sports, period. But we don’t even make the same percentage of revenue! And jersey sales…we don’t get any of it
While WNBA players will continue to campaign for more money and equal rights, it is highly likely they are going to persuade the NBA as the league is focusing on expanding both the presence and popularity of the G League as of now and the WNBA does not seem to be a priority at this moment. The NBA will push for all 30 NBA franchises to work towards developing their own G League franchise going forward.
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