Liz Cambage critical of disparity in coach-player pay in WNBA

Former Aces center Liz Cambage expressed displeasure with the WNBA’s pay structure Tuesday, tweeting the league is one in which “a head coach can get paid 4X the highest paid players super max contract.

“lmao and y’all think imma spend another season upgrading my seat on a flight to get to games out of my own pocket,” Cambage wrote.

The tweet is likely in response to the news that new Aces coach Becky Hammon will make more than $1 million annually after agreeing last month to coach the team.

Owner Mark Davis, who also owns the Raiders, said Monday that “little girls, guys, anybody can look at (Hammon) and say, ‘She’s just like me. A small basketball player who’s retired and she got a job and she’s making a million dollars. I can do that, too.’

“That was really important to me to bring in that kind of value,” Davis said.

The WNBA’s salary cap, collectively bargained by the WNBPA and the league’s owners, bars teams from spending more than $1,379,200 on its roster. The supermax contract, like the one signed this week by Seattle Storm star Breanna Stewart, is valued at $228,094.

Davis and other WNBA owners can’t play players more than that figure annually, though he did affirm Monday that he wants to help players maximize their earning potential. He noted that there is no cap in place for coaches or staffers in the front office. He hopes Hammon’s deal encourages other owners to invest more in their respective teams.

Cambage, 30, is a four-time WNBA All-Star and unrestricted free agent. She played in 2019 and 2021 for the Aces, averaging 15.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks while shooting 51.9 percent from the field.

Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.