The Seattle Storm’s Gabby Williams has walked away from women’s pro basketball after pointing out that even rookie star Caitlin Clark is not paid well in the WNBA.
Williams, 28, claims that she quit the WNBA to play for Fenerbahçe S.K. in Turkey because the U.S. league was too cheap, and she used Clark as her prime example, the Daily Mail reported.
She said that the league claims that players can make “up to” $700,000 a year in salary, but Williams insists that no player, including Clark, makes that much in salary alone.
Williams also said she was promised big money when she was drafted into the Chicago Sky in 2018, but it never happened. “We were promised team marketing agreements and league marketing agreements, but they’ve fallen quite short,” she said.
“So it’s still not enough for us international players to want to stay here. And that’s a choice of the players,” the player added.
“If I make a choice to make more money, whatever, and then teams are mad that I don’t come back, but that’s how it is,” she said.
Williams also countered claims that Clark makes far more than $700,000 with her rookie debut. She noted that Clark is only making about $70,000 in salary, and the rest is from endorsements and product deals. She also countered those who have attacked her on social media.
“…to everyone saying ‘leave the country, if you’re unhappy in America,’ I did,'” she said as she made preparations to move to Turkey to play in Istanbul.
Williams averaged 10.3 points, four rebounds, and 3.7 assists during the 2024 season with the Storm.
She played for the University of Connecticut and graduated in 2018. Williams also played for an Olympic basketball team, but it wasn’t Team USA. She played for France’s national team in 2021 in Tokyo, and it cost her a spot in the Chicago Sky. The Sky suspended her and then traded her to the Los Angeles Sparks when Williams was unable to make several games and practices in the U.S. because she was in Tokyo playing for Team France. She won a bronze medal for that year.
Finally, Williams donned the colors of Team France in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, winning a silver medal this time out.
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