Courtney Vandersloot Tips A Sea Change In European Basketball
On Tuesday, Sopron Basket announced it had signed Courtney Vandersloot for the 2022/2023 EuroLeague season.
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Vandersloot had played for UMMC Ekaterinburg, a Russian mega-club, since 2018 and left the team after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
The break from Ekaterinburg is natural, as the geopolitical situation in the region remains tense, but it also might indicate a shake-up of talent in Europe.
Ekaterinburg, owned by Russian oligarch Iskander Makhmudov, has historically compiled super-teams full of top Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) talent, paying salaries more than four times what those players make in the United States (U.S).
There were even reports that Ekaterinburg had offered to pay Vandersloot to sit out the 2022 WNBA season before she signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Sky.
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The WNBA’s salary-cap restrictions, combined with the prioritization clause built into the most recent CBA, have caused some tension between players wanting to maximize their earning potential and their responsibilities back home.
Many players see the year-round routine as a necessity to get the most financially out of their active years as professional athletes.
The conversation surrounding that schedule has heated up after the detention of Brittney Griner in Russia in February.
These same considerations are what allowed Sopron Basket, the reigning EuroLeague champions, to have room for Vandersloot on their roster.
Meanwhile…
Seattle Storm guard Briann January had decided she would no longer compete in Europe, which opened up a spot.
The conversation about necessity versus desire when it comes to WNBA players spending their offseasons in Europe isn’t ending anytime soon.
But the realities of international safety in Russia and economic sanctions increase the likelihood of stars going elsewhere in 2022.
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