Source: Chris Coduto / Getty
Diana Taurasi is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in WNBA history, but with the way the pay structure was set up, she never saw her just dues.
She retired in 2024 just as the league started to hit its stride culturally and financially, and now, in a new documentary called Taurasi for Prime Video, the outspoken retiree is opening up about her journey.
And like other WNBA players, the salaries were so low they had to travel overseas to supplement their income. Even we’ve discussed the league’s pay disparity.
“I’m the best player in the world, and I have to go to a communist country to get paid like a capitalist,” Taurasi said in a clip on X. “One time I came back, and I was like, ‘Man, my parents have just gotten older, and I’ve missed a big part of it. We weren’t making that much money. So, generational wealth was coming from going to Russia every year.”
Her overseas teams included Dynamo Moscow, Spartak Moscow, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray S.K., and UMMC Ekaterinburg, which is where Brittany Griner was heading when she was jailed in Russia.
She said the thought hit her one time when she was gearing up for the WNBA season and the brutal competition she’d be up against for the next few months, and compared her salary to the blue-collar workers in the arena.
“Now we have to come back home, and get paid nothing to play in a harder league, in worse conditions against the best competition in the world,” she said. “The f-cking janitor at the arena made more than me.”
The current rookie salary is $78,831 for the first few picks before it quickly dwindles down to about $66,000. That’s still a lot more than Taurasi was making in her first season as a Phoenix Mercury, with a $42,000 salary. She had a somewhat loaded contract at the end of her career, though, when she signed a two-year, $469,872 deal in February 2023.
Still, her career earnings after 20 years in the WNBA only amount to $1.38 million. Now compare that to the NBA’s current vet minimum, which is about $1.2 million per year.
Thankfully, the WNBA and WNBPA are embroiled in CBA talks to fight for more pay, and the players even wore “Pay Us What You Owe Us” shirts to show unity during All-Star weekend.
Her three-part series, Taurasi, premieres August 7. Watch the trailer above and see social media’s mixed reaction to the clip below.