Sports fans have slammed WNBA legend Diana Taurasi, with one calling her an ‘entitled crank’, after she compared her salary to what the janitor cleaning the arenas she played in made.
Taurasi’s comments about her pay came as part of a preview for her ‘Prime Video’ documentary, which detailed her rise to become one of the best female basketball players of her generation.
‘I’m the best player in the world and I have to go to a communist country to get paid like a capitalist.,’ Taurasi said. ‘One time I came back and I was like, “Man, my parents have just gotten older and I’ve missed a big part of it.”‘
‘We weren’t making that much money, so generational wealth was coming from going to Russia every year. Now we have to come back home and get paid nothing to play in a harder league, in worse conditions, against the best competition in the world. The f***ing janitor in the arena made more than me.’
Fans have not taken kindly to the comment from Taurasi, who played professional basketball for 20 years, which included several stints with teams in Russia and Turkey.
Taurasi’s final annual salary with the Phoenix Mercury was $234k, leading some to question how she was in a position to air those grievances.
Sports fans have slammed WNBA legend Diana Taurasi, with one calling her an ‘entitled crank’
Taurasi compared her salary to what the janitor cleaning the arenas she played in made
‘The other thing that burns me about @DianaTaurasi crapping on janitors is that one of the best men I’ve ever known was one. My grandfather, Don, worked as a janitor after serving in WW2. One of the hardest-working people I’ve known. I’m sorry you had to travel the world to hoop, one sports fan said.
‘Diana (Taurasi) complains that janitors make more than her. I don’t know who advises women’s athletes, but ripping other people’s salaries as a way to justify your own is an awful look. Makes me personally think they deserve even less than they get,’ sports commentator Clay Travis added.
‘At no point did the janitor make more than Diana Taurasi, why does she have to disrespect that person?’ a third person stated.
‘Another entitled crank,’ a fourth continued.
‘If making money is so important to her then sounds like she should become a f***ing janitor,’ a fifth sports fan concluded.
A collection of social-media messages about Diana Taurasi’s comments regarding her salary
Taurasi was not the only big WNBA star to play overseas during her domestic offseason, with fellow Team USA star Brittney Griner being the obvious example due to her 2022 detainment in a Russian prison while playing internationally.
For the four seasons before Taurasi made nearly a quarter of a million dollars annually, her yearly contract was $116.5k with the Mercury.
Taurasi’s rookie contract in 2004 was for $40.8k annually, less than Caitlin Clark’s $76.5k first professional deal.
The legend has made around $1.4million from contracts with the Mercury in her career.
