Everything depends on Stewart -- who proved herself the best in the world last night.
If she stays, Seattle is competitive but needs shooting and a PG. If she goes ... the mind reels. We'd find out if the Seattle fans would still pay to see a bad team.
Comments made by Stewart (and the fact that she has signed to play in Turkey) suggest she is a bit annoyed by the prioritization clause and she is not alone. I could see a number of the top tier players sitting out next year and firing up the twitterverse and media outlets (starting with ESPN) to blast the WNBA for not having it's stars on the court next season. The teams have always caved in the past when a player demanded a trade.* So will the WNBA cave? It is enshrined in the CBA so who knows what happens.
It will be interesting, that's for sure. Stewart, though, is a member of the union and thus is bound by union rules. I find it hard to imagine the players' union allowing Stewart to avoid prioritization while others can't.
That said, she may just sit out a season to rest, which would make sense. 2024 will be very, very busy, so taking four months off in 2023 might be the best thing for her.
It will be interesting, that's for sure. Stewart, though, is a member of the union and thus is bound by union rules. I find it hard to imagine the players' union allowing Stewart to avoid prioritization while others can't.
That said, she may just sit out a season to rest, which would make sense. 2024 will be very, very busy, so taking four months off in 2023 might be the best thing for her.
I'm don't envision a Stewart only scenario though there is precedent for that (her Ambassadorship). If she the only who doesn't show up, the league will get along just fine w/o her. I think it takes at least 10 quality players to create enough pressure. It would take a modification to the CBA.
BTW - the players union seemed to have zero problem with NY Liberty players getting to go on charter flights nor Stewart Ambassadorship in violation of the CBA.
If prioritization is so unpopular, why did the players' union agree to it? Honest question...
It doesn't take a unanimous vote of the players to get the CBA approved. It doesn't affect players who don't go overseas, players in years 1-3, or players who go to overseas teams in leagues that don't normally conflict with the WNBA schedule (e.g. Australia). The players complaining about it, may have voted against the CBA but were outvoted. Same for travel. All the players got more money and some other perks so that may have been what it took for approval.
These farewell tours never do seem to end in a title, do they.
Yes, I was "in hiding" for a minute there. I needed to not be on here in order to process all that went down in Game 3 and then of course what losing Game 4 meant – and also to not respond to posts out of pure emotion. (I wasn't even gonna pay much attention to the Finals if it were Aces-Sky. I like the Aces-Sun matchup a lot better now though, heheh...)
I'm a millennial, for those who don't know or didn't pick up on. (Not really a true one in some respects due to the proximity of my birth to the cutoff point, but definitely not anything like a Gen Z member either.) Having witnessed firsthand the Storm as a kid win their first title in '04 – the only one they ended up securing at home – a Sue Bird-led Seattle Storm was pretty much the last external chapter of my childhood. And not to be dramatic – well, okay, I do love being dramatic lol – but now the whole book let alone the chapter has ended. And in the wake of Breanna Stewart possibly choosing Turkey or Hungary over the Storm let alone her choosing the New York Liberty over the Storm, the title contention window may effectively be closed. I really wanted us to be the first team with 5 titles as one can imagine – but alas, the winds of change appear to be taking us elsewhere. Maybe we'll still get there first eventually – it just may take some time. So it goes.
More about 2023 in the next post.
Upon posting this one, I did however somehow forget to just say: Thank you for everything, Sue Bird. You and Lauren Jackson – two superstars who led us to multiple championships, and stayed here for their whole careers, even when they could've left at several different instances. That phenomenon really doesn't happen in men's pro sports anymore; It doesn't even happen in this League either, really. The fact that it happened twice, here, is something I'll cherish for the rest of my life. Happy retirement, Sue – though I think we'll still be seeing you around. 🥂
Last Edit: Sept 8, 2022 23:44:55 GMT -5 by Deleted
It's so sad what happened to Russell in 2022. The news about her illness emerged cryptically out of training camp, and we still have very little information about it. Hope to see her back next season and beyond.