WNBA player Natasha Cloud said the WNBA needs to learn from the new women’s basketball league called Unrivaled and pay its players higher salaries.
Cloud made the comments during a press conference after a game for the Phantom, a team in the newly formed women’s three-on-three league. Unrivaled’s schedule purposely takes place during the WNBA off-season with an eight-week schedule, giving 36 WNBA players the chance to play in the United States as opposed to going overseas.
With Unrivaled’s average salary over $220,000 — which nears the WNBA’s max salary — Cloud said she believes the WNBA needs to take cues from the new league.
‘We’ve grown so much.’
“We want our munyun [money], and we want it now,” the player said, after being asked what she hoped WNBA executives might have learned from the new league.
Cloud continued, “I think we’ve done a really good job over the last few years and especially over my 10-year career in the [WNBA]. We’ve grown so much, but there’s so much room left to grow, and obviously you guys see us expanding, but also just prioritizing players.”
The 33-year-old went on to praise the new company for prioritizing players and making them feel happy. She cited being able to speak directly to league executives without having to go through an assistant, as well as staff members popping in to say hello.
She added that she felt Unrivaled is setting the precedent for leagues across the board.
The devil is in the details of Cloud’s demands, however, as the leagues are vastly different. According to ESPN, Unrivaled’s eight-week season is run out of just one Miami facility and of course serves just a few dozen players, as opposed to the WNBA, which has about four times more.
The WNBA also has to charter flights and pay for private planes for players to compete at different facilities around the country, which of course came after athletes complained that star player Caitlin Clark was getting preferential treatment despite being the biggest money-maker in the league by far.
By most estimates, including previous reporting by Blaze News, the WNBA lost around $40 to $50 million in 2024, despite it being the league’s most successful season by far, with the most fanfare.
Since the WNBA has never turned a profit during its existence, it is always intriguing to hear its salaries be compared to other leagues with vastly different business models.
Unrivaled boasts a star-studded list of investors and, as reported by Yahoo in 2024, includes a series of well-wishing celebrities and businessmen.
Athlete investors include former women’s soccer player and left-wing activist Megan Rapinoe, fellow soccer star Alex Morgan, and former NBA players Carmelo Anthony and Steve Nash. LPGA Tour player Michelle Wie West and actor Ashton Kutcher were also listed as investors.
Belarusian business mogul Gary Vaynerchuk, former ESPN President John Skipper, and former Turner President David Levy round out the list of backers.
Unrivaled’s approximately $8 million salary overhead combined with upkeep of just one facility may serve as a much better business model than the WNBA’s operation and is likely to continue to provide fodder for players to make demands of the NBA’s charity league.
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Fearless, Wnba, Basketball, Women’s sports, Women’s basketball, Miami, Sports
