The WNBA’s annual draft is Monday night and it’s sure to be a star-studded affair. Aliyah Boston, who has long been the best center in women’s college basketball is expected to be the No. 1 overall pick, and Maddy Siegrist – the game’s leading scorer this past season – should come off the board within the next few picks.
But some of the top eligible college players will be missing from the selection pool. Two-time ACC Player of the Year Elizabeth Kitley, All-American Rickea Jackson, and Naismith Defensive Player of the Year finalist Celeste Taylor are just a handful of players once projected to be top 10 picks who have basically told the WNBA, “Thanks, but no thanks. We’ll see you next year.”
This rarely happens in any other sport. When a projected first-round NFL Draft pick decides to stay in school for another year, it is major news. The same is true for the men’s college basketball prospects and the NBA.
But in women’s basketball? Players holding off their pro careers to enjoy another year of college ball is becoming the norm. And there’s a few reasons why.
For starters, for some of these players, it may be more lucrative for them to stay in school. Name, image and likeness deals have paved the way for some women’s college basketball players to make five-to-six figures annually in advertising and marketing deals. UCLA coach Cori Close told the Athletic in February that she expects her players to average between $50,000 and $70,000 apiece in NIL per season.
And that might be the low end. After leading LSU to a national championship, On3 now projects junior forward Angel Reese to have an NIL valuation of $876,000. The only two players ahead of Reese in those rankings are Haley and Hanna Cavinder, Miami guards who double as TikTok stars.
“I’m in no rush to go to the league,” Reese told the YouTube show I AM ATHLETE. “The money I’m making is more than some of the people that are in the league that might be top players.”
And that’s not hyperbole. WNBA rookies make between about $60,000 and $72,000 in their first season. And the highest paid players in the WNBA this season will earn an annual salary of $234,936, according to HerHoopStats.
For some players, the math just doesn’t make sense when they’re trying to decide whether to go to the league early. And as long as players can make more money in college, this will continue to be a problem for the WNBA.
There are a few other factors too.
On Monday, the WNBA announced that it was expanding its charter flight program this season. Teams will be able to fly charter during back-to-back games in the regular season, for the entire playoffs, and for games in the Commissioner’s Cup.
But still, the majority of flights that players take to and from games are going to be on commercial airlines, which means waiting in airports, dealing with delays, and – for taller players – attempting to secure valuable exit row seats so they don’t have to fold themselves into a tiny area for hours. Most Power 5 college teams fly charter for all flights.
And there’s no guarantee that charter flights stick around in the WNBA in this capacity.
Always read the fine print: "Next season … Engelbert said that it will be more challenging. 'Next year we can’t do all of them,' she said. The commissioner hopes that charters in the future can be funded in part by the next TV deal." https://t.co/HcjDknIQu8
— Isabel Rodrigues (@IsabelBarroso78) April 10, 2023
Another college player who is staying in school for another year that likely would’ve been a first-round pick is UCLA’s Charisma Osborne. Speaking to the New York Times recently, her coach, Cori Close, broke down a conversation she had with a peer in the WNBA about the hurdles the league faces when trying to lure players into the draft.
“Does Charisma want to make more money and stay in college and get massages, fly charter, have everything paid for, have a nutritionist and have her own trainers that are paid for?” Close said, quoting a WNBA coach. “Or does she want to have none of those things and fly Southwest with us?”
In a recent tweet, Indiana Fever general manager Lin Dunn admitted the lack of charter flights being a hindrance to the WNBA’s attractiveness:
Created discussion—yes…… however—-very few high profile players opted to stay for a 5th year!
WNBA players are receiving most of the perks collegiate players receive….. the charter flights are the major difference IMO! https://t.co/L9Mu6Ip7Pk— Chalk Talk (@LD_ChalkTalk) April 9, 2023
The two words that stand out in Dunn’s tweet are “most of.” In what other sport are the perks in the pros not better than the ones players already get in college?
Another thing about the WNBA that is different from nearly every other major professional league in the U.S. is that being drafted in the first round does not guarantee you a roster spot. The WNBA has 12 teams, each with 12 roster spots, making a total of 144 players in the league. But players stick around awhile. This league doesn’t churn through players like some others. For example, the great Diana Taurasi is entering her 20th season with no signs of slowing down.
Last year, the Minnesota Lynx drafted Colorado’s Mya Hollingshed eighth overall, only to waive her weeks later. The Seattle Storm picked N.C. State’s Elissa Cunane 17th overall and cut her in the preseason. Cunane later played three games with the Lynx on a hardship contract last June but didn’t stick in the WNBA as a rookie. Seven first round picks from the 2021 draft have played in less than 20 games across two seasons in the WNBA.
At the Final Four in Dallas, Texas, For The Win caught up with ESPN analyst and Basketball Hall of Fame member Rebecca Lobo. At that point, Virginia Tech center Elizabeth Kitley hadn’t yet made her decision on whether or not to come back to school for a fifth year, or if she was going to enter the WNBA Draft, where many had projected her to be a top-eight pick. Lobo thought it would be best for Kitley to return to play with the Hokies to expand her game.
“I think WNBA coaches, if you’re a post player with size, who shows that you have a consistent shot from range, it certainly helps your prospect of sticking on a roster,” Lobo said. “We talk about it every year, but I don’t know if people realize exactly how hard it is to make a WNBA roster. Like, this year, there might be 10 players in the draft that stick. It’s not a lot. And that might even be a high number… This is not a strong draft. Just because you’re a first-round pick, it doesn’t mean you’re going to make a roster.”
It remains murky when the WNBA is going to finally add expansion teams. In the meantime, some have proposed that the league expand the size of its rosters.
“I don’t understand why they don’t have it already,” Lobo said. “I feel like they can even expand two spots per roster as like a practice player, and so maybe at a relatively minimal cost.”
The player that captured the attention of mainstream sports fans this past March was Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, who broke the NCAA tournament’s scoring record by piling up 191 points in six games as she powered Iowa to an appearance in the national title game. Clark isn’t eligible for the draft yet, but will be next season after her natural senior year.
But Clark has the option to stay and play a fifth season of college ball, because of the NCAA’s COVID-era ruling that made it so the 2020-21 season didn’t count toward a player’s eligibility clock.
“That’s where I want to be (the WNBA), but I have another year here (at Iowa) and possibly one more after that just because of COVID,” Clark told the Dan Patrick Show in February. “I really have no clue what I’m going to do, stay for an extra year or leave after next year.”
Players staying is great for the college game. Each team that made this year’s Final Four had at least one starter that was playing their fifth season of college ball: Iowa’s Monika Czinano, LSU’s Alexis Morris, South Carolina’s Kierra Fletcher, and Virginia Tech’s Taylor Soule.
But it doesn’t seem good for the WNBA. And until the league expands its teams, rosters, salaries and amenities, this is something it will continue to grapple with.
