Sports activities documentaries will be goldmines for followers. They sometimes provide entry you do not see wherever else, and on the very least, you will get a alternative quote or two from somebody concerned with the story. In Diana Taurasi‘s case, she’s giving us loads of good entry AND quotes—and he or she’s not holding again.
Taurasi is a three-part sequence now obtainable on Amazon Prime Video. And the WNBA legend is not mincing her phrases round how a lot she and her friends are paid.
“I am one of the best participant on this planet and I’ve to go to a communist nation to receives a commission like a capitalist…” Taurasi said. “Generational wealth was coming from going to Russia yearly. Now we’ve got to return again dwelling and receives a commission nothing to play in a more durable league in worse situations in opposition to one of the best competitors on this planet? The f***ing janitor on the area made greater than me.”
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In 2022, Taurasi was tied for the WNBA’s highest-paid player, making $228,094 in wage. She made $234,936 in her closing two seasons, the highest-paid years of her 20-year profession with the Phoenix Mercury. Contemplating WNBA contracts, worldwide play, and endorsements, Taurasi’s profession earnings are over $10 million. That makes her one of many highest-earning girls’s basketball gamers ever.
Per Spotrac, Taurasi made $1,385,416 in her closing eight seasons within the league. That included an enormous soar after the brand new collective bargaining settlement for the WNBA, bumping Taurasi’s wage from $119,500 in 2020 to $221,450 in 2021, an 85% increase. Her rookie wage was solely $40,800 regardless of being the #1 draft choose, and her rookie extension in 2007 was price about $90,000 per yr. By 2014, Taurasi had close to the league’s max wage at $107,000 per yr. She was making good cash by WNBA requirements, but it surely was lower than the worth she was bringing to her workforce and the league.
Add all of that up and Taurasi’s whole WNBA earnings are possible lower than $2 million. She was an 11-time All-Star, 10-time All-WNBA First-Group, three-time champion, and one-time MVP—and he or she nonetheless solely averaged lower than $100,000 per yr from the league.
Evaluate that to what she made abroad with golf equipment in Russia and Turkey. From 2005 to 2010, she performed for Dynamo Moscow and CSKA Samara within the Russian Premier League, spending two seasons within the Turkish Tremendous League with Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray earlier than returning to Russia for the 2012 season. Russian groups reportedly paid her in extra of $1 million per yr. In truth, in 2015, UMMC Ekaterinburg—which additionally had fellow WNBA star Candace Parker on its roster—paid Taurasi $1.5 million to skip the WNBA season and relaxation up for his or her league, as a substitute.
She received six EuroLeague championships, seven Russian Nationwide League titles, and was a three-time Russian League Participant of the 12 months. She additionally added a championship in each the Turkish Nationwide League and Turkish Cup. Taurasi made an estimated $7 to $8 million from her Russian offers, so worldwide play made up the majority of her profession earnings.
She additionally had sponsorship offers with Nike, BodyArmor, State Farm, Coca-Cola, and extra. BodyArmor reportedly paid her $1.35 million, considerably greater than she ever made throughout a WNBA season.
Taurasi’s technique is widespread amongst WNBA gamers. Lots of them play abroad whereas the league is in its offseason, making an attempt to extend their wealth whereas they’re nonetheless on the high of their recreation. Although the league is in talks of a brand new collective bargaining settlement, it would not look like numerous progress has been made.
And so, this cycle will possible proceed, with gamers heading outdoors the U.S. to hunt extra alternatives and money.
