Storm's Gabby Williams Calls Out WNBA For Unfulfilled Pay Promises
One of women's basketball's biggest breakout stars this season has been Seattle Storm guard Gabby Williams.
While Williams was a star at UConn and has been in the WNBA since 2018, she became a household name after carrying Team France to the gold medal match against Team USA at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Less than two weeks after that, it was announced that Williams — who had spent the first portion of the 2024 season playing overseas — had re-signed with the Seattle Storm for the rest of the 2024 season.
Williams has been critical of the WNBA's pay structure in the past, as she explained her decision to stay overseas rather than return to the WNBA last summer by telling The Next Hoops, "Unfortunately, [the WNBA] doesn’t pay the most. So I am happy to have other options to provide for me and my family."
The 28-year-old then doubled down on her criticism of the WNBA's pay structure during her exit interview with the Storm on Thursday.
"The W[NBA} thinks that they don't have to pay us more in order for us to be here. And I think I didn't express that when I first talked about prioritization," Williams said, per The Sporting News. "Our commissioner talked about us being able to make $700,000. That's actually not true at all. There's not one player who makes that."
The WNBA's highest-paid player in 2024 is Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young, who earns an annual salary of $252,450.
"We were promised team marketing agreements and league marketing agreements, but they've fallen quite short," Williams added. "So it's still not enough for us international players to want to stay here. And that's a choice of the players. If I make a choice to make more money, whatever, and then teams are mad that I don't come back, but that's how it is.
"The WNBA, if you want us to be here, you have to pay us more. It's business, it's how it works, and that's all that means," Williams concluded.
Gabby Williams speaks about how the WNBA can do better when it comes to international players 🗣️
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) September 26, 2024
"Our commissioner talked about us being able to, you know, make $700,000. That's actually not true at all. There's not one player who makes that." pic.twitter.com/RPh7IzN4lh
Williams is now an unrestricted free agent. It will be interesting to see whether she decides to stick around in the WNBA or head back overseas for what's likely to be a bigger payday.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.