What's wrong with the WNBA?

Everyone knows my love for the game of basketball and, specifically, women’s basketball. I’m probably the only man in Arkansas who watched Russia upset the United States last year during the World Championships.

By the way, I also watched Australia beat Russia for the gold medal.

Reading about how American women have to go overseas to get paid is a sad story for me. Amazingly, it was even sadder just 10 or 11 years ago, before the WNBA came into existence.

The WNBA is still going but it still hasn’t grabbed much attention. Part of that is the fact that it is not the premier league for women. If you want to see the best women players, you need to go to Russia.

That’s a problem.

In recent years, foreign players are not coming to the U.S. Russia’s Maria Stepanova, a 6-8 center, is considered the best player in Europe. Phoenix has her rights but they can’t get her over here to play.

Stepanova’s teammate is Ilona Korstine (pictured), who is one of my favorite players. She’s an athletic slasher who makes acrobatic shots and, of course, she’s also gorgeous.

Sorry, I’m a guy. Shoot me.

Anyway, neither of these women has played in the WNBA in several years. I recently contacted Korstine via email and asked when and if she would return to the United States. English isn’t her first language but I think you can figure out what she’s saying.

“Hi,

For the moment I'm not ready to come back to WNBA. My russian season isvery hard and after that during the summer I play for russian nationalteam. So I do not have enough time to go to the USA, because I wanthave some vacation. I addition, I win my life with my russian contract, I do not have an assurence if I get inguried in USA.

Amy best
Ilona”

Basically, she’s saying she can’t afford to play in the WNBA. If she gets injured in Russia, she will be taken care of. She can’t take that chance in the WNBA.

That’s the difference between the NBA and the WNBA. Players from Europe, Africa and South America look at the NBA as the ultimate dream. European women look at the WNBA as a minor league that offers more risks than rewards.