Lexie Brown Sounds Off on ‘Disproportionate Respect’ From WNBA Owners in Pay Talks

Seattle Storm guard Lexie Brown spoke to Michael Porter Jr. about the low pay WNBA players faced early in their careers. Even as the No. 7 pick in the 2018 draft, Brown said she made about $40,000 in her rookie season, making it tough to live on basketball alone.

Like many other players, Brown played overseas during the offseason to earn more. As the WNBA grows, players continue to push for better pay and working conditions.

Lexie Brown speaks out about lack of respect in pay negotiation talks

For a long time, the money WNBA players made did not come close to matching what they were worth. Brown knows this better than most. She has been in the WNBA since 2018, when she came in as the seventh pick and still could not make ends meet on her salary.

"I made like 40k my rookie year. You can't live off 40k, so I took my a-s overseas immediately. I played for three straight years," Brown said on the Curious Mike podcast .

Brown also talked about the frustration players faced when negotiating with league owners. She described what that attitude felt like from where she was standing. "For them, we just felt like they just kept smacking us in the face. Like, 'Y'all are just asking for too much. Like we just need y'all to show up and play and just be happy with the little money that we're giving you,'" she said.

On top of that, players felt like they were being kept in the dark about what was actually happening in those meetings. Brown said the way information got passed down was part of the problem, and the lack of respect was obvious even in the small details: "It was crazy getting the information to us from their meetings with the ownership and then telling the player reps, and there was a very disproportionate level of respect."

Brown was not alone in seeking opportunities overseas during the offseason. Stars such as Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart and Brittney Griner also played abroad at different points in their careers. For many players, overseas basketball was an important way to make up for the limited income they received in the WNBA.

WNBA players were ready to walk away from games

Things started changing when the league began getting more attention. The rise of Caitlin Clark brought a whole new wave of fans, and the money coming into the WNBA started growing fast. Players figured that growth would show up in their paychecks. For a while, it did not. The league and commissioner Cathy Engelbert were slow to act, and that made players angry enough to organize.

When their demands were not met, they were prepared to take action together. Brown said they were ready to walk away from the game entirely if that was what it took.

"We stood on business. We didn't want to lock out, we didn't want to strike, but we were all completely prepared to. The league, they waited 'til the last possible moment, which was irritating, but they felt us. It's really an amazing, iconic, powerful thing that we were able to do as a league," she recalled.

The new CBA they won brought real changes, including better salaries, revenue sharing, and charter flights. Brown concluded by saying that the players never stopped loving the league, even when they were fighting it.