The WNBA began the second half of its 2025 season on Tuesday. And while the league undoubtedly hoped the attention would be on the competition between the teams in its marquee games, the antics of the league’s players from the weekend during its all-star game were what many people were focused on.

Before Saturday’s exhibition game between the league’s elite, the WNBA All-Star players wore shirts during warmups that read, “Pay us what you owe us.” It was a not-so-subtle reference to the simmering tensions surrounding the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement negotiations, which will determine the pay structures and salaries for the players. The current deal expires at the end of October. And while it’s perfectly understandable for the players to want to get paid as much as possible, their desire for higher pay doesn’t seem to align with fundamental economics.

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While their shirts on Saturday read “Pay us what you owe us,” what exactly is owed to the players of a league that lost $40 million last year? The WNBA has been around since 1997, and during its entire existence, the league has never generated a profit — not even one dollar.

So, for a product that cannot generate a penny in profit, what exactly do these players think they are owed? They seem ignorant of the reality that the only reason they can even have a league is due to the generosity and financial compassion of their male counterparts in the NBA — a very profitable league that essentially subsidizes the should-be-defunct WNBA. Those in the WNBA bemoaning compensation inconsistencies must look in the mirror.

Yet their push for higher pay shouldn’t necessarily be readily dismissed. It’s the narrative they’re attaching to those efforts that is wrong.

On one hand, their desire for an increase in compensation is normal and admirable. On the other hand, their inability to understand rudimentary economics is embarrassing and even arrogant. It’s indicative of the typical socio-cultural identity entitlement that plagues this country. However, this is why the narrative surrounding the battle for a pay increase has been positioned around a battle of the sexes amid claims of a gender pay gap, while many cry sexism. Yet “economics” comes before “entitlement” in the dictionary and does so in the real world, too. 

Their performative antics before Saturday’s all-star game don’t change the league’s economic reality. That being said, there may be some good news on the horizon. The WNBA recently agreed to a new media deal worth $2.2 billion, the most in the league’s history. Much of the disagreement in the CBA negotiations is centered on the percentage of these revenues going to WNBA players. League owners favor a compensation plan where players’ salary structure is based on a “fixed percentage.” Conversely, the players’ union prefers compensation that is not fixed and increases proportionately as league revenue increases.

WNBA PLAYERS WEAR SHIRTS THAT READ ‘PAY US WHAT YOU OWE US’ AHEAD OF LEAGUE’S ALL-STAR GAME

This is a fair and reasonable conversation to have. However, it’s not as sexy as claiming financial injustice of the glass ceiling of women’s athletics, imposed by the U.S. patriarchy — even if that patriarchy is the sole reason for the league’s survival.  Instead, many have tried to portray this as some sort of misogyny, sexism, or whatever other perpetual victimization exists in the 21st century. The root of their pay discrepancy with their male counterparts is the fault of the WNBA players. 

If their product was more entertaining, more people would have watched it over the last 28 years, and the WNBA would have made at least $1 in profit. So, while they demand to be paid what they are owed, they are only owed and entitled to what they earn. Thus far, what they have earned is zero dollars in profits in nearly three decades — being financially carried by the men and the patriarchy of the NBA.