Las Vegas seem determined to play the villain role this season!
More seriously, it will be interesting to see what the WNBA does here. Breaching agreed existing salary cap rules is not acceptable, but I am also interested in the idea that the WNBA scraps the salary cap altogether. Either way, the league needs to take control of what's happening here and in a decisive manner.
I think a good outcome is that salary caps can take into account these type of schemes and/or you just boost the cap significantly. WNBA players don't get paid that much relative to other (mainly male) pro athletes - I don't think their earning potential should be limited just because some owners are stingy.
the problem is, without a salary cap, those owners who use their teams as tax write-offs won’t do more than the bare minimum with respect to getting a competitive roster together, and the teams' product will suffer long-term as a result
a luxury-taxed soft cap may realistically be the next step if a hard cap falls out of favor with enough decision-makers
Think back to when you were a kid for a second, and remember that time when your teacher was handing out a test you didn’t want to take. Perhaps you were unprepared or nervous or just didn’t feel like answering its questions. No matter the reason, you abruptly claimed you felt a stomachache — one so bad you had to scurry to the nurse’s office instead, hoping to avoid the exam entirely.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Las Vegas Aces sure looked like that student. And their test consisted merely of responding, in whatever manner they saw fit, to a question regarding one of their former players.
Over two weeks ago, the Aces traded two-time Sixth Woman of the Year Dearica Hamby to the Los Angeles Sparks. Hours after, Hamby, who is pregnant with her second child, took to Instagram and released a statement on Jan. 21, to in part say: “Being traded is part of the business. Being lied to, manipulated and discriminated against is not.” “To be treated this way, by an organization, by women who are mothers, who have claimed to ‘be in these shoes’… leaves me sick to my stomach.” The WNBPA followed with a statement of its own, writing it would “seek a comprehensive investigation” to ensure her rights under the league’s CBA, as well as state and federal laws, were not violated.
It was then the reigning WNBA champions were presented with a test for the first time. They received inquiries to comment from various outlets, including from The Athletic, but didn’t supply a statement in response to the serious allegations and have remained publicly silent on the topic.
On Tuesday, the Aces had an opportunity to responsibly acknowledge Hamby’s allegations and emphasize their core values. Candace Parker’s introductory press conference was the first time that Aces president Nikki Fargas, general manager Natalie Williams and head coach Becky Hammon were available to the national media since Hamby’s allegations. By no one’s fault but their own for not previously addressing the allegations, the Aces must have known they’d face questions about Hamby’s accusations and her Feb. 1 comments at a Sparks press conference when she said she was “confident that the people, the person, that said these things and did these things will be held accountable. And that the league will do the right thing too.”
But toward the end of the Aces’ nearly 34-minute press conference (the first seven of which were opening statements and during which only six reporters asked questions), Fargas was asked by the Las Vegas Review-Journal explicitly about Hamby. A team spokesperson interjected and conveniently noted Fargas had a phone call “she had to bail on,” and Fargas’ video feed disappeared from the screen. Perhaps it was the press conference “she had to bail on.”
In case folks are interested in seeing how this was handled on Candace's intro press conference…Here is the video of @anyamashita trying to ask his question about Dearica Hamby: t.co/D3lMME5cAV pic.twitter.com/t4fYChCs6f
— Ben Pickman (@benpickman) February 7, 2023
Fargas very well could have had a sudden meeting to attend. But Parker is also the biggest free-agent signing in team history, and the Aces could have scheduled her press conference at any time. It created a poor optic of the Aces’ president dodging an important question on discrimination.
Last week, Hamby declined to comment about whether she would pursue legal action, deferring to the WNBPA’s statement. So the Aces opting not to provide clear or specific answers with possible litigation pending is unsurprising. But after two weeks of waiting, the very least Fargas could do was listen to questions as a good-faith showing she and the organization take the accusations seriously.
A team spokesman afterward replied to The Athletic’s request for a statement by referencing Fargas’ opening comments, in which she welcomed Parker to the team, voiced her excitement about the rest of their free-agency moves and then said this, presumably about Hamby: “Here, at the Las Vegas Aces, we do make sure, and we will always continue to make sure that our players and their families will always be in the forefront of who we are as a franchise. We’re gonna always be supportive of our players in that regard, and we will always demonstrate that we will act accordingly when you are discussing any situation surrounding the well-being of our athletes.”
But why, then, would the Aces choose not to publicly emphasize their values when asked explicitly about the matter, and instead look as if they are running from yet another question? Perhaps they’re betting that the relative lack of national WNBA coverage will mean less media scrutiny and less pressure to respond.
So far, Las Vegas has publicly neglected the topic on its own volition. So now, an organization which has lauded itself for being family-centric and player-focused has both a Hamby problem and a credibility one. It’s a fact especially jarring when considering its coach, president and new star all also hold high-profile media jobs — Hammon and Fargas with ESPN, and Parker with Turner Sports.
Of course, the main issue shouldn’t be glossed over either: that a pregnant woman felt “traumatized” by “disgusting comments” she says were made to her by her former employer.
More is likely to come out about what transpired, too. And until the situation is resolved, questions about it will keep coming.
Eventually, one would hope, the Aces will have to take the test.
When numerous stars on the team all signed contract extensions below market value last season, the narrative was all about what great team chemistry Becky Hammon had created and what a great job the front office was doing. Plot twist: THEY WERE CHEATING. Makes me angry. Then there's folks on twitter so blinded by fandom that they insist, even if the allegations are true, "Nothing's wrong with paying these players what they deserve." DAMMIT, TWO THINGS CAN BE TRUE.
Cathy Engelbert will not make the decision -- whoever owns the league will make the decision. In most pro leagues, the other owners own the league, and they don't like seeing an owner get punished because they might be next. But since we don't really know who calls the shots, the ownership group may not have the same bias as in the NBA, say, and the hammer may come down hard.
There's also a bigger picture about salary caps here. The NFL and NBA salary caps are so high, and salaries are so high, that funneling enough money under the table to make a difference is all but impossible. But in the WNBA, we're talking chump change for a guy like Joe Tsai when he's asked to spend an extra $50,000 or $100,000. (It might work like this: One of Tsai's buddies who owns a business gives Tsai a fake invoice for $100,000. Tsai pays it with the understanding the $100,000 goes to Courtney Vandersloot.)
Hard, soft, whatever, the salary cap is pretty much unenforceable if teams do a professional job of hiding the under-the-table payments, which they will do in the future. Now if players were making $5 million instead of $200,000, it would be a different story.
clayk you may be right, but if so it begs the question - why be a fan of a corrupt sports league, where only cheaters win and players collude them? Why would an honest person become an owners in that sports league?
clayk you may be right, but if so it begs the question - why be a fan of a corrupt sports league, where only cheaters win and players collude them? Why would an honest person become an owners in that sports league?
A great question. I think the issue is that the W tried to be like the big boys and imposed a system that only works if the numbers are really big.
Then again, I don't know how you can control salaries, and the league definitely doesn't want a few owners to dominate with their checkbooks. The salary cap was an attempt, but clearly isn't working.
One problem with the salary cap is that teams have to include injured, pregnant, and otherwise unavailable players in their salary cap. Even if a player is injured while playing overseas, if they already have a contract, you have to include them in the cap, but you can’t play them. The Lynx were stuck last year with this situation, with Phee’s pregnancy, and a few key injuries. If they had the ability to have the injured players in a subset, and then actually have the salary cap comprised of only active players, A) you would see more players getting a chance in the league that’s way too small, and B) teams would not have to circumvent the rules as much.
I think the first issue to address is pregnancy. I don't think a team should have a pregnant player's salary count against the cap. After all, pregnancy is pretty hard to fake, even to gain a competitive advantage.
The rule was changed and now allows teams to replace the pregnant player without having to wait for the hardship to kick in. The player must accept a salary at the applicable minimum. While less than whatever the player's current salary might be, in many situations it make no difference. For example, if a max player is out for pregnancy it is going to be pretty difficult to find a max quality replacement player unless they know in advance the player will be out for the entire season, and even then there just aren't that many really great players around. If they are going to be out for only part of the season, I don't think any max type is going sign up for that. And if (as in the case of Cheyenne Parker) they leave mid season good luck find a replacement player worth more than the minimum anyway. See Richyyy's tweet below