The new WNBA Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is impacting players who are already in the league, as well as rookies who were recently drafted. But it will also change how the careers of some European athletes who play on both sides of the Atlantic plan their seasons — and could even tip the scales in the WNBA's favor.
Julie Allemand knows all about playing basketball, well, everywhere. Allemand, who is now part of the first-ever roster for the Toronto Tempo, regularly plays for her native country of Belgium. In an interview with La Dernière Heure, Allemand revealed that the CBA might mean she and other European players might not be such regular fixtures in the EuroLeague, because the WNBA season may end up running too far into the European season, or beginning too early for Europeans to play in both.
The CBA may force European leagues and team owners to change what they do and do not provide athletes, she explained, and how the schedule works. "I think the dynamics of the European leagues will change a lot starting next season as a result of the reforms (CBA) in the WNBA," she said. "It will be difficult to play the American season and the European season straight after that. I am taking a break this year at the end of my WNBA season. When I play in Europe again, it won't be a full season. And I think that will be the case for many players".
Many European players have prioritized going home to play in EuroLeague or other tournaments and leagues in the past, but the CBA might change things around. If players have to choose between a WNBA season that begins earlier than ever before or staying in EuroLeague, it sounds like Allemand believes they'll choose the former. It's also possible that players may choose to skip one of the leagues entirely, especially if they also want time to rehabilitate their bodies and even just to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Elsewhere in the interview Allemand revealed she was happy to have been left unprotected by the Los Angles Sparks. As she put it, "To be honest, I hoped to be on the list of players who were not being protected by Los Angeles and to be selected by one of the two new teams. The overly Americanized mentality, exaggerated as it can be in a city like Los Angeles, and the bling-bling that comes with it, wasn't really my thing. Toronto is perfect for me."
The CBA will also put more money in the hands of players who have often gone overseas during hte WNBA offseason because they didn't have the option to stay in the United States and make money. That's not quite what Allemand is talking about in this interview, but is an important change the CBA has afforded many athletes who prefer to stay in one country instead of zig-zagging across the world.
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