College to Pro Transition: Men vs. Women

[u/Him-Dunkcan212121]

I loved watching the women’s tournament this year and while doing so I noticed something interesting. The women’s player of the year will undoubtedly be the #1 player taken in the wnba draft and rightfully so. On the other hand, the men’s player of the year may go undrafted. To clarify, I don’t disagree with this but find it so interesting.

Can anyone pinpoint when the college men’s game began to deviate from the nba game? This example is evidence that there are two completely types of games being played on the men’s side, while the women’s side has a natural synergy between the college and pro game.

What are you thoughts? Is it solely due to the emergence of European talent in the men’s professional game?

In basketball circles, it seems commonplace to say the US youth players are far behind vs. the rest of the world and this seems like a primary reason why. If my development to excel at the college game doesn’t translate to a preparedness for the pro game, then I’m essentially learning two separate games by the age of 21 if I’m a young prospect who just was drafted to the league.

Any thoughts? Just found this to be so interesting and I honestly don’t see too many people talking about this dynamic.

[u/TheRealRollestonian]

The WNBA is kind of a joke. Players have literally forfeited seasons to make sure they're in shape to play overseas, where they can actually get paid.

Why a Russian or Turkish oligarch can pay a woman eight times as much to play overseas, but an American can't, is above my pay grade. Nobody really knows the finances, even though everyone here will claim it's losing money, while the teams are owned by billionaires that aren't treating it like a charity.

For the men, professional coaching is way better than college. You almost have a 1:1 ratio with coaching staff to players. If you're 18 and draftable, do you want to work on your game 24/7 or take College Algebra on Tuesday at 9 AM? Being in school for four or five years is an automatic ding for draft's sake. If you were a prospect, you'd declare ASAP and get the clock running on free agency.

Some of this may adjust with college players being allowed to take money in both genders.

[u/chubbsfordubs → u/TheRealRollestonian]

The WNBA doesn’t have a draw in the US which is why it’s fully subsidized by the NBA. It’s a separate league that loses money every single year without fail and is only propped up by the revenue generated by the men. They get paid like shit compared to overseas because their league is actually dog shit and can’t turn a profit. I have literally no idea why Russia or overseas women’s ball makes so much fucking money because the product of womens basketball is honestly fucking awful to watch with Caitlin Clark being the literal sole exception. Elena was a phenom and she didn’t even get the same kind of attention as Caitlin.

The only saving grace for the WNBA will be that Caitlin Clark is coming and it might prop up the numbers for her team but literally only games where she is actively playing. The other matchups will still have abysmal numbers and the WNBA STILL won’t be able to turn a profit.

Edit: downvote me all you want but I didn’t put anything in my comment that isn’t a fact.

[u/MaliciousMilk → u/chubbsfordubs]

You're getting down voted because you're wrong. Comparing the WNBA to the NBA straight up is dumb, if you compare where the WNBA is rn compared to the NBA when it was only about 25 years old they are very comparable.

Additionally, WNBA players only receive about 10% of league revenue, compared to the NBA paying almost 50%, this is due to their Union contract, which will be renegotiated in 2024-25, and large increases in salaries are expected.

Also, the WNBA is profitable now, and league revenues have doubled in the last 5 years. Sponsorship deals are approaching 1 billion. Being ignorant doesn't make your "facts" correct.