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Tasmanian Alanna Smith has had the best season of her career in the world’s best women’s basketball league. As she did, the WNBA began to burn.
In a stellar season for the Minnesota Lynx, Smith became one of the first Australians to sign for the off-season three-on-three league Unrivaled, and last month was named WNBA’s co-defensive player of the year – the first Australian given the honour since Lauren Jackson in 2007.
But as the most-watched WNBA season in history drew to a close, tensions between players and the league were at boiling point. It centred on one key issue – the players want to be paid more, and they want it in writing by October 31, when their new collective bargaining agreement is due to start.
If there’s no agreement, the players will be locked out by their teams and not paid.
Alanna Smith celebrates a three-point basket against the Phoenix Mercury during the playoff series.Credit: AP
Smith, like most players in the WNBA, is acutely aware of the negotiations.
“It’s no secret that women’s sports and especially women’s basketball is on the rise, and so we’re going to be making money, and we’re going to be making money for leagues for many years to come,” she said on Tuesday during a visit back to Australia.
WNBA players share no more than 10 per cent of the league’s revenue. The New York Times compared this share to the NBA in which players are mandated to receive between 49 per cent and 51 per cent of revenue. The result is that the top men’s players earn about 200 times more than the best in the WNBA.
“What’s going on is that the [revenue] share number is absurdly low. And there are reasons as to why it’s low, like there wasn’t much cashflow coming in … but times are changing, and I think with that we need to keep up with the times,” Smith said.
WNBA star Caitlin Clark at league’s All Star game.Credit: Getty Images
“We’re at a point where we’re starting to see the fruits of our labour, and we deserve a slice of the pie.”
Since joining the Minnesota Lynx last year, Smith has been close to the inferno. Her teammate and captain Napheesa Collier has become the league’s most outspoken player.
Collier made headlines this month after she read a statement during a post-game press conference that criticised the WNBA’s leadership and revealed that its commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, said players should be “on their knees thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal that I got them”.
Collier is not the only one frustrated. More than 40 players walked out of an Indianapolis hotel in July when negotiations over the CBA turned sour. Later that month, every player at the WNBA All-Star weekend wore t-shirts that read “pay us what you owe us”.
When the Las Vegas Aces claimed the championship on October 11, Engelbert was booed by fans during the trophy ceremony.
“It’s not fun to read that type of stuff. As a player, you want your commissioner to be a players’ commissioner,” Smith said. “And so those types of comments [from Engelbert] kind of make you question that.
“A lot of talk’s going around right now about relationship repair between the commissioner and players … and I think that is absolutely necessary, especially now with how the CBA negotiations are going. We all need to be on the same page.”
Alanna Smith receives her trophy for being co-defensive player of the year.Credit: Getty Images
Off the back of her celebrated year, Smith has been named as one of the first Australians to play in a historic breakaway league known as Unrivaled, alongside Opals teammate Ezi Magbegor. Co-founded by Collier in 2023, the three-on-three league held during the WNBA off-season offers some players more than four times their WNBA salaries.
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“Unrivaled is doing a really good job of jumping on that momentum of women’s sports, while also allowing players to join in on the ride,” Smith said. “More brands are interested in WNBA players now, more organisations want to partner with WNBA players.
“Before, it was like pulling teeth trying to get brand deals and trying to talk to companies about working with female basketball players, and now we’re being sought after, and I think Unrivaled is a really good vehicle for players to have access to those types of brands and companies that are really looking to work with WNBA players.”
The opportunities for women’s basketballers have never been more plentiful. Last month, Smith’s other teammates Natisha Hiedeman and Courtney Williams were featured in Vogue magazine. Last week, Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese walked on the Victoria’s Secret runway. At the top end, Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark has an estimated net worth of $11 million.
An award-winning WNBA season and a historic opportunity in the off-season should be cause for Smith to celebrate. But aside from taking congratulations on passing her honour’s thesis at Monash Univeristy, Smith thinks she still has more to offer. Not only is her best playing ahead of her, but she believes the best for the league is, too.
“It feels surreal, to be honest,” she said. “I came into the league in 2019, and so I’ve been here for two CBAs … So I’ve seen the league evolve over real time as I’ve been in it, and this is probably the biggest shift that I’ve seen in the league in terms of changes across the entire system. It’s been amazing to be on the ground and in those conversations and privy to that kind of stuff.
“I feel really grateful that I’m a part of something that’s going to probably be looked back on as a pivotal moment in this league.”
