{"id":217406,"date":"2025-08-07T09:56:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T09:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/217406\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T09:56:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T09:56:12","slug":"wnba-star-diana-taurasi-goes-viral-for-remarks-about-pay-in-russia-vs-wnba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/217406\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA star Diana Taurasi goes viral for remarks about pay in Russia vs. WNBA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Diana Taurasi, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/wnba\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">the WNBA\u2019s<\/a> all-time scoring leader, has an upcoming three-part docuseries about her illustrious basketball career, &#8220;Taurasi.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Prime Video\u2019s teaser of the docuseries has already gone viral.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/wnba-legend-diana-taurasi-eats-words-about-caitlin-clark-reality-coming-me-now\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Taurasi has always been<\/a> candid on and off the court, and the WNBA icon reflected on having to play overseas during the league\u2019s offseason to supplement her income. In a clip from the series, Taurasi lamented having to do it in the first place.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/diana-taurasi.jpg\" alt=\"Diana Taurasi runs on court\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi celebrates after a 3-point basket against the LA Sparks in the second half at Crypto.com Arena. (Kirby Lee\/Imagn Images)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I\u2019m the best player in the world, and I have to go to a communist country to get paid like a capitalist,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SportsonPrime\/status\/1953093751091478794\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Taurasi said<\/a>, alluding to her time traveling to Russia.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The f&#8212;ing janitor at the arena made more than me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Taurasi shared a similar sentiment in 2019 on a 30 for 30 podcast, &#8220;The Spy Who Signed Me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/sophie-cunningham-instructs-reporters-tell-wnba-commissioner-pay-us-amid-union-contract-standoff\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM INSTRUCTS REPORTERS TO TELL WNBA COMMISSIONER TO &#8216;PAY US&#8217; AMID UNION CONTRACT STANDOFF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Forty-five thousand?&#8221; she said when asked about her WNBA salary. &#8220;That\u2019s what I\u2019m going to make? That\u2019s what I\u2019m going to make after four years of playing at the most prestigious basketball college? That\u2019s what I\u2019m going to make? I mean, the janitors are going to make more than me. The guy who takes the floor out and puts it back \u2026 he\u2019s going to be making more than me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Taurasi\u2019s rookie salary with the Phoenix Mercury in 2004 after her tenure at UConn was $42,000. Over the years, that salary trended upward, ultimately leading to a two-year, $469,872 deal in February 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Taurasi made about $1.38 million in the WNBA over her 20-year career in the league. She also sat out the 2015 season because her Russian Premier League team, UMMC Ekaterinburg, paid her not to play in the WNBA.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Taurasi explained the toll of having to play overseas.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;One time I came back, and I was like, \u2018Man, my parents have just gotten older, and I\u2019ve missed a big part of it.\u2019 We weren\u2019t making that much money, so generational wealth was coming from going to Russia every year,&#8221; she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/diana-taurasi-uconn.jpg\" alt=\"Diana Taurasi dribbles\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Connecticut&#8217;s Diana Taurasi, right, battles past Tennessee&#8217;s Kara Lawson as the Connecticut Huskies defeated Tennessee 79-56 in the NCAA women&#8217;s semifinals at the Alamodome in San Antonio March 29, 2002. (Imagn)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>WNBA players still travel overseas to play internationally during the offseason, though the new 3-on-3 Unrivaled league, started by stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, debuted earlier this year to help keep women in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Based on the 2020 collective bargaining agreement for the WNBA, the minimum salary for a player has gone up from $57,000 that year to $66,079 in 2025, according to Spotrac. It will continue to increase to $68,061 in 2026 and $70,103 in 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But the current CBA expires Oct. 31, 2025, after the WNBPA\u2019s decision to opt out instead of letting it run through the 2027 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Diana-Taurasi-1.jpg\" alt=\"Diana Taurasi looks up on court\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury at Climate Pledge Arena June 4, 2024, in Seattle. (Steph Chambers\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/apps-products?pid=AppArticleLink\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>WNBA players have been vocal with their financial demands, recently wearing &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/sophie-cunningham-instructs-reporters-tell-wnba-commissioner-pay-us-amid-union-contract-standoff\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Pay Us What You Owe Us<\/a>&#8221; T-shirts before the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If a new agreement is not reached by the start of the 2026 campaign, there could be a lockout.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Follow Fox News Digital\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FoxNewsSports_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">sports coverage on X<\/a>, and subscribe to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/newsletters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Scott Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Diana Taurasi, the WNBA\u2019s all-time scoring leader, has an upcoming&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,6908,27585,66,1633,458],"class_list":{"0":"post-217406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-phoenix-mercury","10":"tag-russia","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-trending-news","13":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114986889707912342","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}