Meesseman and Julie Allemand are the first two to come to mind. I think both would be playing this season if the salaries were higher. Especially for Allemand who would still be on a rookie scale deal. Raquel Carrera, too. Top international player that is likely avoiding the W due to the low pay.
Imagine how much more the league would have had Maria Stepanova play in it if not for the low salaries. Alba Torrens was a top international player during her prime and could never be talked into coming over. The two Germans that were drafted in 2021 probably never come over. Rupert would be with the Dream all season if not for EuroBasket. FIBA won't cater to the WNBA. Next year might brutal in terms of international players sitting out. And then the 2026 World Cup is scheduled in September.
Last Edit: May 29, 2023 13:27:43 GMT -5 by toad455
These days there are not too many who have not at least tried the WNBA, but start for Indiana also seems like a low bar. Torrens and Iagupova are definitely at the top of the list, but it is hard to see which players WNBA teams have actually tried to sign over the years. As mentioned, the biggest obstacle is national team play. A lot of these players have been involved every summer since the age of 15 and both enjoy the ability to play with old friends and feel indebted to the programs that helped them develop.
Leonie Fiebich played NBL1 last year so money is not the obstacle there. Some of these players also do not really want to come in to camp without knowing that they have a path to a roster spot because it just becomes a waste of a month for them. The new young generation seems to have a different viewpoint in the same way that the current generation of European men have a different opinion on the NBA than the generation right before them. There are probably some Europeans who think that if Sonja Petrovic, who people would probably regard as the closest to Alba Torrens in overall career until Emma Meesseman plays a few more years, never managed to be an impact player in her stints, maybe the WNBA just does not respect Europeans in the same way that a lot of European men wondered why they should try to make the NBA work when Juan Carlos Navarro and Vassilis Spanoulis were chewed up and spit out so quickly.
If the WNBA salary cap doubled, a team spending at that mark would probably crack the top five in women's basketball around the world. I would have to imagine that Iagupova would give it a shot at triple the current salary structure, especially since she often has summers free.
With major international events every two years, and qualifications seemingly every year, that does seem like a major obstacle to consistently importing talent. Then again, a salary of $750,000 might change some minds, but clearly a player would have to prove herself in the W before she got that big a check.
It's interesting that there's a sense the WNBA doesn't give foreign players a fair shake, because it would seem that there's a substantial body of work overseas to draw on for evaluations. Is the style of play so different that success doesn't automatically transfer? Or, to put it another way, is Euroleague competition similar in some ways to Division 1 college basketball, so that one can succeed in college but struggle in the pros?
Supposedly the new CBA will include much higher max salaries -- which is bad news for roster expansion -- so maybe we will see Europeans stepping away from their national teams because of the money. For that to happen, though, it would appear players would need to be better than Julie Allemand, who averaged 8.5 ppg in 32 mpg for Chicago, and had a PER of 13. Her on/off court numbers were not good either.
I have no strong take on Allemand, and maybe the stats misrepresent her abilities, but if she's one of the top five Euros who might come over, it doesn't appear there are many all-WNBA players waiting in the wings for the money to be right. But of course I could be completely wrong on this ...
With major international events every two years, and qualifications seemingly every year, that does seem like a major obstacle to consistently importing talent. Then again, a salary of $750,000 might change some minds, but clearly a player would have to prove herself in the W before she got that big a check.
It's interesting that there's a sense the WNBA doesn't give foreign players a fair shake, because it would seem that there's a substantial body of work overseas to draw on for evaluations. Is the style of play so different that success doesn't automatically transfer? Or, to put it another way, is Euroleague competition similar in some ways to Division 1 college basketball, so that one can succeed in college but struggle in the pros?
Supposedly the new CBA will include much higher max salaries -- which is bad news for roster expansion -- so maybe we will see Europeans stepping away from their national teams because of the money. For that to happen, though, it would appear players would need to be better than Julie Allemand, who averaged 8.5 ppg in 32 mpg for Chicago, and had a PER of 13. Her on/off court numbers were not good either.
I have no strong take on Allemand, and maybe the stats misrepresent her abilities, but if she's one of the top five Euros who might come over, it doesn't appear there are many all-WNBA players waiting in the wings for the money to be right. But of course I could be completely wrong on this ...
I would agree on there not being all-WNBA players out there choosing to stay out of the league. Prime Torrens or Iagupova on a good day would probably be the closest in terms of recent players who have never tried. I don't think that anyone would consider Allemand one of the best European players not currently in the WNBA though. She is more of the solid, steady type, which is certainly useful in a backup point guard who you do not expect to win you a game, but you hope will not lose you a game. In Europe, she is a necessary stabilizing influence for Johannes on the club level and Vanloo on the national team level.
The conflict between European and American basketball has decreased and was never as big on the women's side as the men's side, but things like Prioritization certainly are not helping. The talent is more spread out in Europe other than on a few teams so there are a lot more players who have big roles, but have a fatal flaw or two that would be too easy to exploit at the WNBA level. European coaches are used to creative scheming to hide weaknesses and microscopic-level rotation tweaking to try to get the edge in specific matchups. It takes some getting accustomed to being the player that your coach makes adjustments around to being the player fighting for her job. There are plenty of players who have skills or size or athleticism, but not the baseline level of all three, European and American.
We will definitely have to see what the next salary structure will look like. There is no sign that the financial situation in Europe is changing in a positive direction. Your Volleyball Theory is actually going to apply to Australia and Europe very drastically in the near future. For Europe, soccer has finally fully broken through as a socially acceptable sport for women in the last major countries that were holdouts so the girl choosing what sport to specialize in today is far more likely to pick soccer than ever before and the money looks like it will be there when they reach professional level. Basketball and volleyball will be fighting for the players projected to be too tall for soccer. In Australia, the same problem is evolving with Australian Rules Football quickly forming a robust league and in a few years we will have the first high level players who specialized in it and had decent training.
Women's Aussie Rules football seems like a big threat to women's basketball in Australia but I wonder at its long term prospects financially. But certainly in terms of culture, it resonates more strongly with youngsters than basketball does. Basketball will take a few hits in Australia due to women's AFL, but I think it will still do ok. It manages to co-exist with netball somehow (which takes away far more potential basketball talent than Aussie Rules IMO).
In terms of European talent, I really rate Iagupova. I think Peak Iagupova could have been an All-Star. Alba Torrens was really good too, but I think she would have been more of a solid starter/rotation player. I agree that Allemand is nothing special - a decent backup in the WNBA, but doesn't have a higher ceiling beyond that.
It will be interesting to see if younger European players make the leap. I'd love to see Fiebich in the WNBA - she has good size and skills and I think she could make it in the WNBA if she wanted to. But does she want to? Who knows. Dominique Malonga from France is one name to definitely keep an eye on. Maybe Juste Jocyte from Lithuania too, though I am unsure whether she's on the same level of potential as Malonga (I'd probably rate her a level lower).
Isn't the WNBL is financial trouble currently? I believe one of the teams are up for sale.
I am assuming that you saw the recent article twisting the story that the WA state entity wants to sell Perth? There are also conflicts about how the league should be administered since the federation is not exactly doing a great job. Expecting growth is probably too much, but there are not signs that the WNBL will not at least stay stable.
Isn't the WNBL is financial trouble currently? I believe one of the teams are up for sale.
I am assuming that you saw the recent article twisting the story that the WA state entity wants to sell Perth? There are also conflicts about how the league should be administered since the federation is not exactly doing a great job. Expecting growth is probably too much, but there are not signs that the WNBL will not at least stay stable.
The WNBL has been around since 1981. I don't think it's ever been 'successful' as such, but there's always been at least an eight team league there and it's developed world class basketballers for many decades now. I think it will be around in some shape or form for a while yet. I hope Basketball Australia does let go of control though - they are hopeless administrators. They ran the men's league into the ground until somebody else took over. This somebody else (Larry Kestelman) may now be involved with the WNBL, though the details are not clear yet. We'll see what happens.
Thanks for the insights, especially the impact of soccer on European athletes. I hadn't thought of that, and it will change things. To be a soccer star in Europe, male or female, is the pinnacle, and elite female athletes are going to think soccer first, second and third.
Australia, which a population of 20 million or so (like Southern California), is a very athletic culture, but still, there are only so many athletes to go around.
Bottom line, it seems: USA Basketball will have to actually work on nurturing the sport at the lower levels to keep the quality of play in the WNBA high. Since USA Basketball has pretty much zero interest in youth girls' basketball, I'm not optimistic.