Hi Barry, sorry for the delay but I've been away on a trip without my computer for the past 6 days. To my knowledge, players who are suspended do not get paid by the team. It is possible they could have some type of insurance clauses, think a top College Football player who is projected to go in the first round of the NFL Draft might take out an insurance policy in case they get a career-ending injury during their final year of college. I don't know if WNBA players would consider that, but that could be an option.
I remember when Breanna Stewart tore her Achilles the first time, she had to be medically suspended for the 2019 season. And the Storm did not pay her. However, the WNBA stepped in and paid her for a role as a "League Ambassador". At the time, fans of other WNBA teams were calling it out as if the Storm were cheating. Even though it wasn't the Storm that got special treatment, it was Stewie herself. Also, in retrospect it's kind of funny that some fans raised a stink about that but 2-3 years later, the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty would both get in trouble by the league for illegally paying players.
Whether the Storm could potentially hire a player for a different job for the summer that is unclear but I wouldn't be surprised if that's not allowed or at least frowned upon.
Admittedly not fully versed in the WNBA salary cap mechanics, how does the team "suspend" a contract , is it similar to an NBA team owning the draft rights to a player who is stashed overseas?
Hello Wyatt, sorry for the delay, I've been on a trip without my computer for the past 6-7 days and I just got home. I believe there are two or possibly 3 ways teams can suspend contracts. If it's a draft and stash scenario, for that, they actually never sign the contract in the first place, but if it's agreed upon by both the team and the player/player's agent, the foreign player stays overseas until they are ready to come over. They would then sign their rookie contract at that point. The Storm did this with Ezi Magbegor, drafting her in 2019 at the age of 19 but having her stay in Australia for another year to work on her game. Magbegor then joined the team in 2020 and signed her rookie contract that year.
The other option is a medical suspension. I believe teams are allowed to medically suspend a player without pay if they get injured playing outside of the WNBA. For instance, in 2019 Breanna Stewart tore her Achilles playing overseas and the team suspended her contract. This year, they've suspended Nika Mühl and Jordan Horston. This option is usually chosen if the player is going to be injured for the entire season or a large portion of the season. It allows teams who are under a ridiculously tight salary cap (in 2020 the CBA changed to increase some player salaries by 200% while the salary cap went up only around 30-40%), to suspend a player so that they can afford under the league's salary cap to sign a healthy player to a contract where they normally couldn't afford to.
There is a third option, which is where a player and a team have discussions and agree to suspend a player's contract for the season even if they are healthy. To my knowledge, this generally only happens with foreign players. We've seen the Dallas Wings do this multiple times. This season alone, they're suspending two former Top 5 draft picks in Awak Kuier and Lou Lopez Senechal. I'm not sure if there is a limit on how many of those you can do at one time or not, I'd have to dig deeper into that.
Really appreciate it, and yeah this does make a lot more sense, will be curious if they change these rules with a re-negotiation of the CBA and league expansion (and hopefully roster expansion as well)
Yea the nika muhl contract not being suspended confuses me. If she tore her acl in October/November how would she even be remotely ready for the season???? Why not suspend her contract so you can pick up an extra player
I can't confirm this, but I believe they are leaving it open or ambiguous right now until they officially suspend her contract. Unless they outright waive her or cut her during training camp, I expect them to suspend her and Horston's contracts. I don't believe they can afford to roster 11 healthy players unless they suspend both.
They haven’t suspended Jordy’s contract either. I believe they kinda have to suspend both simply because IMO, they will need that spot. They have 7 healthy players that are signed, if they suspend both, they can sign 4 TC/D and still have a cushion to “day play” a fifth here and there.
They can suspend both per league rules as they were both injured in other leagues.
Very excited for this season!
Great coverage on Malonga; I look forward to seeing her play. I didn't realize Sundell was such a steal. Good info on her. Go Storm!
Do players who are suspended for injury still get paid for the year that they will not play?
Hi Barry, sorry for the delay but I've been away on a trip without my computer for the past 6 days. To my knowledge, players who are suspended do not get paid by the team. It is possible they could have some type of insurance clauses, think a top College Football player who is projected to go in the first round of the NFL Draft might take out an insurance policy in case they get a career-ending injury during their final year of college. I don't know if WNBA players would consider that, but that could be an option.
I remember when Breanna Stewart tore her Achilles the first time, she had to be medically suspended for the 2019 season. And the Storm did not pay her. However, the WNBA stepped in and paid her for a role as a "League Ambassador". At the time, fans of other WNBA teams were calling it out as if the Storm were cheating. Even though it wasn't the Storm that got special treatment, it was Stewie herself. Also, in retrospect it's kind of funny that some fans raised a stink about that but 2-3 years later, the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty would both get in trouble by the league for illegally paying players.
Whether the Storm could potentially hire a player for a different job for the summer that is unclear but I wouldn't be surprised if that's not allowed or at least frowned upon.
Thank you, Jeff.
Admittedly not fully versed in the WNBA salary cap mechanics, how does the team "suspend" a contract , is it similar to an NBA team owning the draft rights to a player who is stashed overseas?
Hello Wyatt, sorry for the delay, I've been on a trip without my computer for the past 6-7 days and I just got home. I believe there are two or possibly 3 ways teams can suspend contracts. If it's a draft and stash scenario, for that, they actually never sign the contract in the first place, but if it's agreed upon by both the team and the player/player's agent, the foreign player stays overseas until they are ready to come over. They would then sign their rookie contract at that point. The Storm did this with Ezi Magbegor, drafting her in 2019 at the age of 19 but having her stay in Australia for another year to work on her game. Magbegor then joined the team in 2020 and signed her rookie contract that year.
The other option is a medical suspension. I believe teams are allowed to medically suspend a player without pay if they get injured playing outside of the WNBA. For instance, in 2019 Breanna Stewart tore her Achilles playing overseas and the team suspended her contract. This year, they've suspended Nika Mühl and Jordan Horston. This option is usually chosen if the player is going to be injured for the entire season or a large portion of the season. It allows teams who are under a ridiculously tight salary cap (in 2020 the CBA changed to increase some player salaries by 200% while the salary cap went up only around 30-40%), to suspend a player so that they can afford under the league's salary cap to sign a healthy player to a contract where they normally couldn't afford to.
There is a third option, which is where a player and a team have discussions and agree to suspend a player's contract for the season even if they are healthy. To my knowledge, this generally only happens with foreign players. We've seen the Dallas Wings do this multiple times. This season alone, they're suspending two former Top 5 draft picks in Awak Kuier and Lou Lopez Senechal. I'm not sure if there is a limit on how many of those you can do at one time or not, I'd have to dig deeper into that.
I hope this helped explain a little more.
Really appreciate it, and yeah this does make a lot more sense, will be curious if they change these rules with a re-negotiation of the CBA and league expansion (and hopefully roster expansion as well)
Yea the nika muhl contract not being suspended confuses me. If she tore her acl in October/November how would she even be remotely ready for the season???? Why not suspend her contract so you can pick up an extra player
I can't confirm this, but I believe they are leaving it open or ambiguous right now until they officially suspend her contract. Unless they outright waive her or cut her during training camp, I expect them to suspend her and Horston's contracts. I don't believe they can afford to roster 11 healthy players unless they suspend both.
Thanks for the insight!
They haven’t suspended Jordy’s contract either. I believe they kinda have to suspend both simply because IMO, they will need that spot. They have 7 healthy players that are signed, if they suspend both, they can sign 4 TC/D and still have a cushion to “day play” a fifth here and there.
They can suspend both per league rules as they were both injured in other leagues.