Praying for Brittney
NEWS UPDATE
Russian team ownership
UMMC Ekaterinburg, the team Griner plays for, is owned by the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company, a multibillion-dollar corporation that produces nickel, copper, coal and lead. The team is positive publicity for the company and an entertainment perk for its workers, and UMMC has brought in many of the best American players for several years.
Overseas leagues & WNBA financials
Corporate and oligarch backing is how overseas teams can afford to pay top Americans much more -- sometimes over $1 million per season -- than the WNBA, for which salaries are collectively bargained. The current top WNBA salary is $228,094, and each team has a hard salary cap of $1,379,200. The WNBA is set up to try to earn a profit for owners and keep the whole league sustainable and competitively equitable for its 12 teams, whereas in many overseas leagues, team costs are written off as a business expense.
Dual citizenship
There are typically limits to how many American players each overseas team can have on its roster. But there's an end-around with that: Many Americans obtain dual citizenship so they don't "count" as an American on the roster. Former American WNBA player Becky Hammon received dual citizenship and played for Russia in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Griner, however, does not have dual Russian citizenship.
- Excerpts from T.J. Quinn & Mechelle Voepel, espn, 9 March 2022