Brittney Griner is back in the United States after an arduous 10-month saga in Russia. Yet nearly half of her WNBA peers opted to compete abroad this winter to supplement their incomes.
None are playing in Russia, for obvious reasons -- Griner's ordeal and the country's ongoing war with Ukraine -- but 67 of the league's 144 players are in Australia, Turkey, Italy and about a half-dozen other countries.
Griner has not spoken publicly nor announced announced her career plans since she was freed. But if she wanted to return to the court, she would be welcomed back by the WNBA, the Mercury and USA Basketball. But there's no denying that the disparity in pay between professional men's basketball players and professional women's basketball players -- Griner included -- is still vast. The top salaries for WNBA players are much less than the minimum salary of about US$953,000 for NBA players for various reasons, primarily the difference in profit margins and media rights.
So, the WNBA players look outside of the U.S., and Turkey has become the main destination for this winter with nearly two dozen of them playing there. Top players can make a few hundred thousand dollars playing in Turkey -- significantly less than what they could earn in Russia.
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