Stateside: Fears for WNBA stars after Turkey tragedy

Steve Brenner 08:00 10/01/2017
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  • Atrocity: Flowers and pictures of victims have been laid in front of the Reina nightclub where WNBA stars were nearby when 39 party goers were killed.

    The terrorist attack on New Year’s Eve which stunned Istanbul left some of America’s finest women basketballers fearing for their lives.

    As a crazed gunman horrifically murdered 39 party goers, worries about the two dozen WNBA stars who ply their trade in Turkey grew with every shocking update. The fears were understandable.

    Some Los Angeles Sparks stars were right next door. Kia Stokes, who plays for the New York Liberty, was actually inside the upscale Reina night-spot. Others were close by.

    “We were at a house party right down the street,” said Lindsey Harding who plays for Besiktas, one of the Turkey’s biggest teams. “It was a weird, scary feeling to be near something like that.”

    Thanks to the riches on offer from the likes of Besiktas [whose stadium is less than a mile from where the atrocity took place] and Fenerbahce, many of the best players here spend their off-season boosting bank balances and reputations.

    Russia and China are also popular, lucrative choices – and it’s no wonder. Women basketball players have been going abroad for years though Diana Taurasi broke the mould in 2015 when she was offered $1.5 million by Russian club UMMC Ekaterinburg – a decent pay-rise on the $109,000 earned shooting hoops for the Phoenix Mercury.

    With the women’s game in its infancy – it’s the youngest pro League in the world – expenditure has no option but to mask growth. Expenses are low and attendances are on the up while in an effort to make amends for the less than glamorous pay-packets, players also get year-round benefits, housing and tuition reimbursement.

    There are no private jets. It’s economy class all the way. Curiously, coaches make more than double the salaries of their star players – some as much as $300,000. The WNBA average is around $75,000.

    Comparisons with the NBA are, therefore, mind boggling considering most make $5m while LeBron James and his fellow superstars are rewarded upwards of $15m. Of course, with the men’s game one of the most popular on earth, the contrasts are understandable. So too are the desires to play abroad.

    Women’s basketball is, for example, huge in Turkey and the cultural experiences cannot be discounted. Yet as the terrorism threats become scarier and appear with frightening regularity, career decisions morph into life ones.

    “We are OK at the moment, “ added Harding who’s played abroad in the off-season since 2008. “But if we choose to leave, that means breaking contract which could make it difficult to get another contract elsewhere, as they will hold letter of clearance.”

    “Players go overseas for different reasons, the travel, the experience, the cultural enrichment,” WNBA president Lisa Borders said when asked by ESPN if increased riches in the US would prevent players from risking their lives.

    “We want to ensure our players are paid as much as we can pay them. This is the youngest League in professional sports – male or female . Baseball is 114 years old, NBA is 70.

    “That is much more time to mature and develop and increase the demand for that entertainment. We could see a day when players will earn a lot more money and the decisions would be perhaps a bit easier. But we are 20 years old and that’s remarkable. We have time to grow and mature, expose the players to our fans and have them support our league the way they do with others.”

    The WNBA has recently started giving players a mobile app called LiveSafe which allows them to communicate directly with the league and its security team.

    The fears, however, are real and not going away. Indiana Fever star Marissa Coleman, who has spent the last three years in Turkey, knows only too well about the inherent danger involved. This time last year she left a Mosque in Istanbul just moments after a deadly suicide bombing.

    “I’ve seen the progression of how things are escalating. We stick out like sore thumbs,” she said. “You can’t avoid certain things, and it does make you nervous. I’m very hyper aware, vigilant of my surroundings. You never know.”

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