Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Today’s newsletter focuses on some evolving news from the NCAA transfer portal and a couple of interesting storylines as WNBA training camp continues. Additionally, there’s a good list of beat reporters at the bottom of the page for you to follow. After a week of dialogue about columnists, reporting and when to ask the right questions, we want you to at least have a good idea of who to follow that will give you the facts, every day and at every practice and game.

And hey, tell a friend to tell a friend about the new and improved newsletter! Now that we’re settling into a more “normal” schedule, expect to see this format in your inbox every morning. In my humble opinion, there’s no better one-stop-shop for women’s hoops news than No Cap Space, so if you haven’t already you can subscribe to the newsletter at the button below!

Tyler broke down the Audi Crooks transfer right as it was announced…

(Psst…Ball-Knowers get these videos in podcast form on their own private RSS feed so if you prefer to listen to things that way, it’s a nice little add on we introduced just last month. Thanks to Tyler Denk and the Beehiiv crew for the new in-house pod feature!)

There’s a few different theories as to who it is that’s bankrolling Oklahoma State basketball. Wherever that money is coming from, it’s clear that it’s being spent with intention. Word on the street is that new transfers Audi Crooks and Liv McGill are making over a million dollars each and pushing the Cowgirls roster budget into the $3.5-4 million range. Keep in mind, supermax salaries in the WNBA are in the realm of $1.2-1.4 million. So Crooks is, in essence, making more money than Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers and almost as much as A’ja Wilson.

In a few ways, it almost proves David Berri’s longtime argument that the WNBA salary cap should be much higher based on the actual demand and market forces. But it also shows that the Big 12 is willing to spend to compete. After a season in which it felt like the league was a clear tier below the Big Ten and SEC, we’re starting to see a couple different programs in the conference really ramp up their money machine. Texas Tech was willing to throw down a substantial sum for Aaliyah Chavez but were outbid by Oklahoma and the siren song of SEC competition. Oklahoma State is outspending nearly everyone and paying a premium for the best players in the portal. Mark Campbell’s TCU is rapidly becoming something of a WNBA Draft finishing school with good salaries available for their biggest targets.

The league itself has a lot of upward mobility and the chance, especially with Baylor not as dominant as they used to be, to take over the Big 12. Whether or not the bags truly result in wins in Stillwater is anyone’s guess, but it certainly can’t hurt.

Each year, it feels like more and more players are entering the transfer portal and as more schools (like Oklahoma State, for instance) want to compete and show a willingness to spend, it only creates more incentive to enter and test your value. While I think that’s a net good for the labor, as they get to really allow the market to dictate their value, we’re also losing the plot on what it means for the lower end of players.

In a lot of ways, it’s a broader critique of capitalism with no regulations whatsoever. If you allow the programs to just go out and spend without any labor protections, then the Audi Crooks’ and Liv McGill’s of the world will be able to make a lot of money (as they should). But what gets lost in that discussion is the players that get ‘processed’, or basically told to enter the portal if a coach wants to open a spot for a better player. Pre-portal, they would just be general roster attrition and sometimes their careers would end right then and there. At least now in the portal era, they can maybe find their landing spots a bit easier.

I’m not sure what the answer is here. If you reintroduce certain guardrails, then we just run up on the same problems we had pre-NIL which was extra money just being under the table instead of above board. People are going to spend. It’s just a truism at this point. But there has to be a way to help out some of these non-top-tier players that are getting suckered into promises of extra money, more playing time, better leagues or just simply are being told to leave and not come back. That’s where a union would come in to play. The issue is we know you can’t really do that without upending the entire system and I don’t have a ton of faith the NCAA or the U.S. Congress are going to have an answer that isn’t riddled with carveouts for whomever is lobbying the hardest.

That’s not to say the portal doesn’t provide some intrigue on the positive side. Shoot, there’s no way Oklahoma State would be on the radar like this if NIL, revenue sharing and the portal didn’t exist. The problem is that we need to tweak the system to allow staying power that goes beyond quick cash infusions. Otherwise women’s college basketball is just another thing you can put on the pile of the commoditization of everything in our lives.

So I’ve been seeing a lot of discussion about Natasha Cloud, the former New York Liberty point guard who still finds herself without a team as training camp begins. A fan favorite in the Five Boroughs, there’s been a lot of different speculation as to why she isn’t in the league right now. Some have gone as far as to say her open support of the Palestinian cause and clear opposition to illegal settlements in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon is turning her into something of a Colin Kaepernick type figure.

While I’m sure there are folks in the front office or ownership chain-of-command that have a wide spectrum of feelings about it, it would be legitimately stunning if that was the case. Temi Fagbenle, who also has stood ten toes down for the cause of Palestinian liberation, just signed a million dollar contract this cycle.

From my vantage point, and in discussions with people around the league, it has more to do with a couple of things. For starters, Cloud set a pretty clear expectation that she wasn’t looking to take a pay cut. Now that the money is here, she was aiming to cash in. How could you blame a 34 year old on the back end of her career for wanting to finally take advantage of the chance to earn life changing money?

Unfortunately for Cloud, she’s a 34 year old who didn’t mesh well on the court with her Liberty teammates despite being a fan favorite off the floor. She’s a solid defender, with three All-Defensive teams in the last seven years, but has never really been a major plus on the offensive side of the floor. While a solid distributor, her scoring averages have never been high and other advanced analytics haven’t been in her favor. As front offices trend more towards the numbers, she’s faced an increasingly uphill climb from a value perspective.

To top it all off, a big reason fans love Cloud is her willingness to say what she thinks. Unfortunately, that can land her in hot water as it did this offseason where her commentary around the CBA negotiations wasn’t rooted in fact and treated as a hindrance to negotiating progress as opposed to a help. There were public comments on the way out of Washington, Connecticut and Phoenix. After a certain point, you can become labeled, fairly or unfairly, as something of a shit stirrer in your office and it’s rare that GM’s want that.

That’s not to say there isn’t a path back into the league. Chennedy Carter was away last year and just signed with the Aces. Tina Charles is still unsigned and didn’t play for a WNBA team in 2023. But it may mean that the money earmarked for players like Marina Mabrey isn’t coming for someone like Cloud. It’s a risk to gamble, and it appears that it didn’t pay off for the point guard this time. But I’d hesitate to attribute nefarious intent when there’s plenty of context to back up a business decision, even if fans don’t like it.

Atlanta -

Chauny Powell & Andrew Haubner, No Cap Space

Wilton C. Jackson, Andscape & The IX

Malik Brown, Clutch Points

Meghan Hall, USA Today

Nia Symone, Freelance

Chicago -

Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune

Alissa Hirsch, Chicago Sun-Times

Connecticut -

Emily Adams, Hartford Courant

Maggie Vanoni, CTInsider.com

Frankie De La Cretaz, Out of Your League

Dallas -

Grant Afseth, Dallas Hoops Journal

Myah Taylor, Dallas Morning News

Tyler DeLuca, No Cap Space

Golden State -

Marisa Ingemi, Valkyries Beat

Maya Goldberg-Safir, Rough Notes

Eric Apricot, Valkyrie Nation

Indiana -

Scott Agness, Fieldhouse Files

Chloe Peterson, Indianapolis Star

Las Vegas -

Willie Ramirez, AP

Nekias Duncan, Dunker Spot

Los Angeles -

Greer Engonga, No Cap Space

Minnesota -

Andrew Dukowitz, Zone Coverage

Terry Horstman, The IX

New York -

Jackie Powell, The IX

Myles Ehrlich, The Pull Up

Phoenix -

Erika Day, PHNX Sports

Dana Scott, Arizona Republic

Portland -

Sean Highkin, Rose Garden Report

Seattle -

Percy Allen, Seattle Times

Christan Braswell, Off The Record

Toronto -

Libaan Osman, Toronto Star

Washington -

Jenn Hatfield, The IX

Carita Parks, Double Take Sports

Jarrett Spence, Mystics Lead & Stop and Pop Newsletter

So here’s a funny story about Wendy McMahon, the former head of CBS News and one of the biggest brokers in media…

I’m working for KOVR (CBS News Sacramento) and down in Las Vegas for the Super Bowl. Since we’re a NorCal station, we were following the 49ers and providing coverage all week in the desert. It was myself (a hybrid news/sports reporter) and my colleague, a full-time sports guy at the station. After a day or two on-site, it became clear that we were understaffed for the event and could tell it was impacting our content. My News Director and I went back and forth over it, in which I texted him something along the lines of “Do your job better, plan better, be better.”

Not my best moment, to be sure. But I still stand on it ‘til this day. Word to Deontay Wilder.

So the next morning, I’m on our CBS platform in front of the Bellagio as Wendy, Norah O’Donnell and a host of C-Suite heavy hitters from New York come through. I introduced myself to a couple and when I talk to Wendy she tells me, “I hear there aren’t some fans of Sacramento here.” While she was referencing my morning show segment in which I recreated Billy Eichner’s famous ‘For A Dollar’ sketch, I thought somehow she had heard about my little scuffle with my boss. To say all the blood left my face and my organs fell out of my ass would be an understatement. Did she know? Was I hopelessly and utterly cooked? I’d later find out that my News Director tried to go to my station General Manager and pull me out of Vegas for the transgression of hurting his big, bald, very important feelings. I still don’t know if Wendy knew that or not, but even just the quick comment was the perfect combination of presence and seriousness that kept me on my toes for the rest of the trip.

Some people just have that aura where, even if they aren’t privy to every conversation, they carry themselves as leaders that know everything happening within their insanely large operation (and run it incredibly well, as she did before leaving CBS, who then decided to commit journalistic seppuku by selling to AI-poisoned failsons and their even more vapid and unqualified underlings) It’s for that reason that I always recommend her newsletter, Pure Mettle. There’s some life lessons, tales of leadership and thoughts on where the media industry is headed to. If you’re someone who likes to “skate to where the puck is going” instead of skating to where it currently is, it’s definitely worth a read and subscription…

And hey, while you’re here…why not subscribe to us if you haven’t already!