68 NBA Players Make More Money Than the Entire WNBA Roster and Angry Shaquille O’Neal Is Tired of Their Excuses

Shaquille O’Neal is one of the greatest players to ever step foot on a basketball court. He epitomized the term “domination” and genuinely crushed his competitors in the painted area. Swatting shots, dunking over people, demolishing backboards, and amassing incredible stat lines were the big man’s nightly routine. O’Neal redefined the center position during his storied career. Never before had the NBA world seen such an incredible mix of size, strength, and athleticism.

Shaq, one of the NBA’s most outspoken athletes both on and off the court, has never been reluctant to voice his views. It’s one of the many reasons the Lakers legend has gained notoriety as a prominent analyst on TNT’s Inside the NBA. Shaquille O’Neal will never fail to motivate or give a brutal reality check to the current players, regardless of whether it sounds harsh or not.

In the most recent episode of his popular podcast “The Big Podcast with Shaq,” O’Neal discussed his personal experiences growing up and how today’s NBA players are so sensitive.

“When I was coming up one time, I got an article from the paper saying Shaq is the third-best player in the city. I was so happy. My father was like, you happy about being number three and crumbled the paper up in my face and threw it,” Shaq said.

“And then the next year, I came back, and it says the best in the US. Instead of going, my dad said I’m not good. I said, okay, sarge. Watch what I do in 365 days.” he added. “That’s all what I’m trying to get some of these guys to do. They’re making so much money and they’re so sensitive, how about I don’t give a shit how sensitive you are. How about that?”

Shaquille O’Neal comments on players being so sensitive

Shaquille O’Neal appeared enraged, believing that some players today lack the capability to achieve greatness. He feels that certain players are overly concerned with what the world thinks and are overly “sensitive.”

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“There’s a lot of regular people works harder than you, get paid less, and you crying about what I say? Get outta my face. I don’t wanna hear that. All these little rich kids making all this money complaining, shut your a** up before I shut you out. It’s bully time now since I’ve been on these weights. I’m getting little swole, it’s bully time now.” 

Some may believe Shaq went a bit too far with his comments, but in all fairness, he had the best of intentions. NBA players are among the highest-paid people on the planet. It takes years of preparation and patience for someone to make it into the NBA. As a result, Shaq urges them not to have their ears towards the critics, but to focus their minds on achieving greatness.

Shaquille O’Neal also discusses how many individuals work harder than the NBA players, but are paid substantially less. In this case, the situation of the WNBA can be highlighted.

WNBA players are paid significantly less than their NBA counterparts

It’s no secret that NBA players make a lot more money than their WNBA counterparts. Yes, the NBA season is substantially longer, with 1,230 regular-season games between its 30 franchises and a maximum of 105 playoff games, compared to the WNBA’s 204 regular-season games and 35 maximum playoff games. However, looking at the numbers reveals how significantly WNBA players are underpaid.

In all, 68 NBA players make more money than the entire WNBA roster. Not a single team, but the whole WNBA roster. That’s definitely quite alarming.

Furthermore, the salary cap for each of the WNBA’s 12 franchises for the 2021 season was $1,339,000. And it’s a strict limit since the only way a franchise can go beyond it during the regular season is for hardship or emergency hardship exclusions.

The salary cap for the 2020-2021 NBA season was $109,140,000, which was 85.2 times that of the WNBA. NBA’s cap, however, is somewhat flexible due to a number of key caveats that permit franchises to breach the cap in any particular season.

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All of this speaks eloquently about the massive salary disparity between WNBA and NBA players. This also explains why Shaquille O’Neal may have gone a bit overboard in order to get the best out of some of the league’s finest athletes.