Candace Parker Challenges WNBA to 'Step Their Game Up' Amid Russia Pay Disparity
With the WNBA and its players currently in the thick of negotiations for the next Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), player pay has been a focal point of discussion. This intensified during the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game last month, when every player came onto the court for warmups wearing shirts that read, "Pay Us What You Owe Us".
While the women's basketball community is well aware of ongoing frustration about salaries, these shirts going viral brought the WNBA pay debate to the mainstream audience, which only added pressure on the league office to provide the players what they've long been deserving.
Of course, the WNBA isn't the only professional women's basketball league in the world that has been operating for decades. There are several prominent leagues overseas that have a lot of prestige, credibility, and offer players much more money to play compared to the WNBA.
Candace Parker Details Russian Gifts Amid Blunt WNBA Pay Challenge
The most renowned non-American women's basketball league is the Russian Women's Basketball Premier League (aka FONBET Premier League), where many women's basketball icons have played in the WNBA offseason.
Candace Parker spent six seasons playing for UMMC Ekaterinburg in this league. And during an August 13 episode of her Post Moves podcast with Aliyah Boston, Parker shared a strong stance about the WNBA's pay — and listed some of her perks from playing in Russia as an example.
"I'm happy for y'all that you are all able to stay stateside and make income. But I do really challenge the WNBA to step their game up," Parker said to Boston.
"Because in Russia, we had chefs, we had amazing apartments, we had drivers, we flew charter. We traveled around Europe as the No. 1 team and were compensated as such. I mean, my black diamonds are from Russia. They were given to me as a birthday gift. My daughter got black diamonds, I got a Rolex watch," she added.
"I mean, the amount of gifts that I got from our owners in Russia, and I think that it just makes you feel welcome, and it makes you feel like you're one of the top players. And are treated as such."
Candace Parker details the luxurious gifts and overall treatment she received while playing overseas in Russia 🥰 pic.twitter.com/o6oHnWkfxh
— Post Moves with Candace Parker & Aliyah Boston (@PostMovesShow) August 13, 2025
While it was known that players got a lot of money to play in Russia during the WNBA offseason, the impressive gifts they'd receive haven't been spoken about as much. While it's hard to imagine the WNBA offering players Rolexes and black diamonds, Parker's comments serve as further evidence that they need to increase salaries.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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