This past week as I celebrated the tremendous victory of the Denver Nuggets sealing their first ever NBA championship (first in their 47-year history!), I couldn't help but reflect on the extreme pay disparity issue that took Brittney Griner and many of her WNBA teammates overseas, for years, trying to source better compensation in the off season.
Firstly, top-performing athletes deserve to be compensated fairly. And such equal pay is critical because, according to my discussion with clinical specialist, and consultant Dr. Nicky Kirk of Parker Performance Institute in Texas, the costs each athlete has to pay to mitigate, or recover from, injuries and to maintain top performance after months of physically gruelling games can be incredibly high. This pressure is amplified all the more if you're a female athlete earning a fraction of your male peers.
In US basketball for example, the average NBA player earned $9.6M in the 2022/23 season (rising to over $40M for top players); the average WNBA player earned $102K in the same season.
Want to know more? Let's jump in!
Contributors:
Dr. Nicky Kirk, clinical specialist & consultant at Parker Performance Institute in Frisco, Texas
References:
Average Salary for an NBA player: https://www.gaimday.com/blog/average-nba-salary/
Average salary for a WNBA player: https://www.nbcsportschicago.com/wnba/who-are-the-highest-paid-players-in-the-wnba-in-2023/344112/
Brittney Griner - WNBA Player Profile. WNBA Official Website. Retrieved from: https://www.wnba.com/player/203398/brittney-griner
Chicago Sky. WNBA Official Website. Retrieved from: https://sky.wnba.com/
Brittany Griner Press Conference: The Phoenix Mercury (full version) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhpe8VNAA2s
News conference 27 April 2023 https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/27/sport/brittney-griner-press-conference-phoenix-mercury-spt-intl/index.html
Life and career of Nikola Jokic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Joki%C4%87
NBA Annual Salaries – 2022/23 season https://www.espn.com/nba/salaries
NBA Rookie Salary (Minimums) – 2022/23 season: https://www.sportskeeda.com/basketball/news-what-nba-league-minimum-salary-full-time-contracts-2022-23-season-looking-finances-salary-cap-lower-limits-this-year
US Women’s Soccer landmark settlement. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/u-s-mens-and-womens-soccer-teams-formally-sign-equal-pay-agreements
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