Introducing the No Cap Space WBB Monthly Mailbag, taking questions from our own subscribers and giving you some deeper insight into the world of women's basketball.
What Your Subscription Is Helping Fund This Month:
This is something that’s important to the five of us at No Cap Space. We appreciate the fact that you, our beloved ball-knowers, help to financially support our endeavor to get you the best coverage in women’s basketball. There’s a lot going on in the world right now and we don’t take lightly what it means for all of you to be here with us. It’s in that spirit that we want you to always be aware of what your subscription is going towards and how it’s advancing the work of creating the best women’s basketball in the sport.
This month, we’ll start implementing technical upgrades for the four of us that do podcasts and video streams. That includes better mics, cameras and lighting. It’s been a long term project for us to professionalize our broadcasts as much as possible for you guys. So, slowly but surely, you’ll see those be introduced in waves.
We’re also working on a variety of other projects that we think you’re going to love this spring and summer. We’ll have more as they progress!
Podcast Questions:
Linked to the article is the podcast with my answers to your questions. In case you’d rather scrub to your question quickly, we have some handy time stamps for you…
0:00 - Show Introduction
6:30 - Jo Asks… “Who deserves the number 1 ranking and why? And who’s your Coach of the Year and why?”
16:16 - BMACK asks… “Are there any serious title contenders outside the obvious? If so, whom?”
20:52 - Grace writes… “I think there will be unforeseen parity in the WNBA 2025 season. (Maybe not the Sun though). The league is on the rise. More Fans are in the stands. New CBA is on the horizon. The players have a lot to play for. They have to keep up with Caitlin. Look at how Angel has already upped her game and she was undeniably relentless in her rookie season.”
29:17 - BMACK asks… “Any interesting Unrivaled Thoughts? Have you seen anything that will affect the WNBA season?”
38:32 - Andrew’s Music of the Month -
Bela Bartok - Romanian Folk Dances Sz. 56
Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5 in D Minor
Sergei Prokofiev - The Year 1941
Karl Amadeus Hartmann - Miserae
44:46 - Andrew’s Meal of the Month - Pasta Alla Gricia
Written Questions:
Okay, now to our questions that wanted written answers…
Chris asks…"Am I going crazy with teams trading these high lottery picks as huge mistakes? Or is my brain warped by Sam Presti and NBA teams never trading these picks?”
Chris, my friend, you are not alone. The only place my brain keeps going back to is that these GM’s seem to have a legitimate fear that top end players will return to school ahead of the 2026 Draft and the new collective bargaining agreement. If that’s really the case, I think the fear is misplaced.
While yes, the cap is set to spike, I don’t think rookie deals are going to increase as exponentially as veteran deals will. Especially when you consider the augmented profits for younger players via deals with Nike, Adidas etc. If there’s give-and-take to be had in these negotiations between the WNBPA and the WNBA, it wouldn’t surprise me if the compromise for more money for older players came at the expense of rookie scale contracts. It isn’t necessarily unheard of. The 2017 NBA collective bargaining agreements raised the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions by 45%. The rookie scale and league minimum contracts increased by the same amount. It’s equal in essence but mid-level/bi-annual players stand to see a bigger dollar-for-dollar increase.
So, as far as that is concerned, I don’t see the upshot of someone like Olivia Miles staying to go from being picked 2nd to maybe picked 5th or 6th or less. It feels like she stands to make more money now than later. Additionally, I feel like so many veterans are planning on locking into long term deals in 2026 that it might be better to be a rookie or sophomore now and become a free agent when the market has corrected itself a bit. All that to say, I really can’t imagine we’ll see a mass return to school amongst the top prospects in the league.
It’s clear that these front offices are loading up for the summer of ‘26 but it feels short sighted to punt on this class in the way teams seem to be. Scouts know this game a hell of a lot more than I do but I see depth and translatable WNBA skills among the best-to-very-good players in this class. Time will tell if they’re right or if we are…
Alexis asks… “Will the Battle of LA part 2 decide the NPOY race among Juju and Lauren? If so, who are you choosing? So far, all home teams have escaped w the dub (USC was considered home team in last year’s Pac12 tournament IIRC)”
After the end-of-season slide by Hannah Hidalgo, I think this is going to be the game that decides National Player of the Year. Ta’Niya Latson’s performance against the Irish this week probably should have vaulted her into the conversation but the game was stashed away on the ACC Network. That kind of stuff matters. If she had that fourth quarter finish on the Four Letters, she is leading Sportscenter that night. That kind of stuff matters to voters who are watching so many games that sometimes (and I’m guilty of this too) it becomes easier to just kind of lock in on what is on the big networks. It’s why I had issues about South Carolina games being om the SEC Network or USC and UCLA games being buried on Peacock. I understand from a business perspective but it does mess up our ability to shape these narratives properly.
It’s important to note that Lauren had that foot injury that may be lingering at this point in the year. This is the portion of the season where if you have something you can play through, you just play through it. With that in mind, I think she’s going to look fine with so much time to rest and recuperate. It’s hard to underestimate that JuJu has on USC and how they seem to go as she goes. At the same time, I do wonder how much of that is by design and, if she wasn’t in the lineup, how much the scheme changes into something a little more recognizable? The other thing too is that as much as you can say JuJu sets USC’s floor, you can say the same about Lauren Betts. We’ve seen what UCLA looks like when she isn’t playing. They’re still a top end team, don’t get me wrong. But they are a heck of a lot more beatable.
Lauren takes their ceiling from a really good second weekend team to a national title contender. JuJu does the same. If I had to vote for one now, gun to my head, I’d probably take Betts. You just can’t underestimate what she does even though it’s easy to do so. For example, lost in JuJu’s masterful performance in the Galen Center, Betts turned in a 18 point, 13 rebound performance while shooting 8/9 from the free throw line. Against Baylor, she almost had a 20 point triple-double in points, rebounds and blocks (she finished with 24-9-9). It just feels like her impact is bigger, for now, even if she has to fight the big vs. guard bias.
Jason W. asks…”Which non top 10 ranked team has the best chance for an elite 8/final 4 run? Ima be watching that Baylor/TCU game like a hawk.”
We talked about this on the pod with Seerat but man, am I nuts for thinking it can be NC State? When we look at their five losses, they’re not all that indefensible. South Carolina, LSU, @ TCU, @ Cal, @ North Carolina? Not the worst losses in the world! Four Top 10 teams and a 20+ win Cal on the road?
The Wolfpack have already gotten over the hump of making a Final Four, having done it last season. The biggest impediment was always Wes Moore, who I felt had a tendency to sell it in clutch situations in the Tournament. But last year, they did all the right things and had players to make buckets when it was needed. Those players, by the way, are all still there in the backcourt. They’ll need a really massive March out of 6’6 Swedish freshman Tilda Trygger but after a 19 point, 9 rebound performance against Notre Dame, it suddenly feels possible. NC State, to me, feels like the one team that fits this bill the most.
LSU and TCU are also possibilities but carry their own deficiencies that will do them in by the end of the second weekend, in my opinion. The Tigers just seem to have these games where they lapse in multiple places. It feels like they are missing the dominant big Kim Mulkey has to help them clean up underneath the basket. Who is the LaDazhia Williams of this team? I don’t think she exists. LSU probably doesn’t finish 2023 as national champions without the 6’4 center, whose 24 points vs. Utah and 20 points vs. Iowa were basically the difference between wins and losses. I don’t think the Tigers have a frontcourt player like that on this team.
TCU’s big issue is going up against a team with good guards and a single forward that can make Sedona Prince cave. What people don’t really see is that the Frogs have really only had one game against a team with a truly nationally elite frontcourt. South Carolina beat them by 27 points. When you get into March you need multiple high level forwards and/or centers. TCU has Prince and that’s kind of it. The same reason Oregon lost the 2019 Final Four to Baylor is probably the same reason TCU will lose in the Elite Eight.
Outside of those two teams, I don’t really seen anyone else that would be a Cinderella team. Tennessee, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Kansas State and Kentucky all have glaring holes. North Carolina feels the closest but I don’t know who their ‘get me a bucket when it matters against whoever they throw at you’ person is and if they have the same top end ability as the other contenders. Right now, it feels like UCLA, Notre Dame, USC, South Carolina, Texas and UConn are the only teams that have that caliber of player. Cori Close and Niele Ivey need to get over some late game coaching yips with ‘no-excuse’ rosters. Lindsay Gottlieb has made a Final Four before but will this system of centering JuJu work when push comes to shove? South Carolina’s ceiling was hampered with Ashlyn Watkins’ injury while Geno Auriemma and Vic Schaefer are looking for their first title runs since in over five years. This year might be one of the best Tournaments in recent history from a variance perspective.
Saskia asks… “Can we get something from you in writing on this new Unrivaled-WNBPA partnership? I’m still processing the news. While I’m very pro labor and like that Unrivaled can help push things forward for players in the CBA negotiations, there are some potential conflicts and tensions here.”
So I’m gonna assume the potential conflicts and tensions here relate to a concept of ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ when it comes to the upcoming CBA negotiations. Generally, I agree in that concern. Unrivaled is, generally, pretty reflective of a small portion of the league and, if the WNBPA is prioritizing the strategies of Unrivaled, it can create an environment of distrust about if a plurality of players concerns will be actually be taken seriously. In terms of what the PA can actually agree to, I’ve had a hard time finding any type of deal in which percentages weren’t uniform across the board.
The NBA’s landmark CBA in 20`17 bumped salaries 45% across the board. Bird players commanded a higher percentage of the cap than other players but the annual increase went up by the same amount (.5%). The MLSPA’s deal in 2021 negotiated a 7.5% annual salary increase in 2026 and 10% in 2027.
Now, that’s all ultimately dependent on how contentious the fights between the WNBPA and owners over the revenue split and hard cap are. It’s definitely reasonable to be a little hesitant to brand this agreement between the PA and Unrivaled as a labor win. Capitalism still exists here and if there’s one thing the WNBA has taught us over the last year is that the activist league can get very circumstantial in their moral stands. The biggest worry I’d probably have is the owners going to the star players and leaning on them to try and push through concepts that might benefit the so-called “Unrivaled Class” of players at the expense of others.
Maybe it’s a bit Pollyanna but I don’t think that will happen. The one thing the WNBA still has going for it is that the current generation of players still hold an understanding of the importance of the whole over the individual. I think that’s where we’re losing the plot a little bit over on the men’s side of things. Over here, active coaches and players have the lived experience of fighting for something greater than themselves. They’ve faced the fight for respect and understand that what they represent, even as stars, is more than their individual brands. That’s what I think this deal actually is and can be: added leverage for the PA against the WNBA that can bring more added value to all levels of players.
The other benefit of Unrivaled is that there are younger players involved, either as investors or players. Plus, I really don’t think you can make these decisions in some sort of cabal without considering three of the biggest names in the sport in Caitlin Clark, A’ja Wilson and Sabrina Ionescu. Having Nike’s representatives at the table is going to be essential. Ultimately, worker power works best in these situations and I’d like to believe that we aren’t going to see a situation arise where the needs and wants of the Unrivaled players or veterans won’t be markedly different than what the rest of the league wants.
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