The WNBA didn’t waste any time returning to the hardwood after the Olympics, and the quick turnaround following the Paris Games is something players may look to change in the next collective bargaining agreement.
Teams started playing games four days after the Paris Games ended, including Breanna Stewart and the New York Liberty, who opened up in Los Angeles—a nine-hour time difference after her stint in France.
“I think that even in a non-Olympic year, you think about All-Star, it’s like, everybody needs some time after All-Star break, or it’s not a break,“ Stewart told the Associated Press. ”So, trying to kind of push that into the CBA, I think would be really important. Especially following the Olympics, because we’ve never had an Olympics in a 40-game season, except this season.”
Players or the league could opt out of the current CBA at the end of this season.
The quick turnaround didn’t seem to hurt New York, which had four players and its head coach participating in the Paris Games. The Liberty swept games from the Los Angeles Sparks and Las Vegas Aces to remain solidly atop the standings and clinch a playoff spot.
Stewart understands the league, which has all this momentum behind it, didn’t want to go longer without having games after taking the break.
“From the W’s perspective, I’m sure they’re like, well, we don’t want to be not showing games for an entire month or a month-plus.“ she said. ”But at the same time, understanding the players’ perspective I think is really important. It’s wild, from Paris to the West Coast, so it’s just like, not an ideal situation.”
The Liberty forward said “unfortunately” players are put in situations like these a lot.
“It’s like, onto the next, onto the next, onto the next, where we kind of [don’t] even really celebrate what we did, of winning a gold medal, as much as you would want to.”
The Aces split their first two games and A'ja Wilson would have loved a few more days to recover after helping the U.S. win its eighth consecutive gold medal. Las Vegas was one of the fortunate teams that didn’t start play until Saturday.
“I definitely needed some time to decompress,“ Wilson said. ”Playing USAB (is) a whole other thought and mind process that you might not necessarily have to exert that much energy when you play with your respective team. So definitely needed just a couple of days just to kind of decompress, whether that’s just get back into the flow of things, or just get my feet underneath me, because that was a long time away, with a lot of just back and forth.”
Wilson said she'd be in favor of the players discussing getting more time off.
“I think if it is a chance for us to go to the table and say, ‘Hey, we should get more rest time,’ even if it’s ... just a couple of days. It’s crazy to see players play fresh off of a plane in a sense. So yeah, I don’t mind asking for that.”
The Phoenix Mercury, Chicago Sky, and the Sparks all played three games in a four-day span to tip off the second half of their seasons.
Fortunately, the next Olympics are in Los Angeles in 2028, so travel will be less of an issue for USAB players.
