From hoops to oysters: Inside the unexpected second acts of WNBA stars

After seven days of wind, the morning is finally calm enough on New York’s East Moriches Bay for Sue Wicks to jetty her boat to check on her oysters. Hundreds of cages pop out at odd angles from their lines, and a few float away.

The retired WNBA star and Hall of Famer admits that the aquaculture farm she started at age 50 can be anxiety-inducing and compares it to her time playing basketball.

“Some days you’re like, ‘Why am I doing this?’ You’re injured, you’re hurt, you are losing, things are going bad. And then the next day you go back and do it again because you love it,” she said.

Wicks, 59, has worked as a commentator, college basketball coach and at a fitness start-up since retiring from the WNBA in 2002. She feels fortunate to have found another career “that works for my soul.” The reality, however, is that even her successful run as one of the world’s best basketball players didn’t earn her enough to fully retire.

Wicks’ story highlights a persistent issue in women’s professional sports. Despite the WNBA experiencing record growth in sponsorships and ticket sales, many players still face financial uncertainty when their playing careers end.

“The choice is what they do as their second career, not whether they have a second career,” explained Risa Isard, director of research and insights at women’s sports marketing platform Parity. Since “women athletes get paid a fraction of what men do while they’re playing,” their post-athletic careers typically resemble traditional professional paths rather than managing investment portfolios.

The disparity is stark: NBA players earn an average salary of approximately $11.9 million, according to data reviewed by The Associated Press—nearly 100 times the WNBA average of $120,000. While league size, age, profit margins, and media contracts account for some of this gap, the difference remains substantial.

Marissa Coleman, the 2009 second overall draft pick and 2015 WNBA All-Star, points out that “most NBA guys are sitting on tens, sometimes hundreds of million dollars.” For financially savvy male players, post-career work is “more so curing boredom versus a necessity.”

“Most women athletes across the board have to find a career after basketball out of necessity,” Coleman emphasized.

This reality plays out against the backdrop of ongoing labor negotiations between the WNBA and the players’ union. Both parties recently extended their current collective bargaining agreement to January 9, 2024, while continuing discussions. A key sticking point revolves around revenue sharing—as the league grows, players are seeking a larger portion of that financial success. Currently, WNBA players receive a significantly smaller percentage of league revenue compared to their NBA counterparts.

Transitioning away from professional sports presents unique challenges. Devereaux Peters, former Minnesota Lynx forward who moved into real estate development in 2019, found the adjustment difficult. In basketball, she could “go in the gym and shoot and work on my shot. And you’re going to see a result if you’re putting in the work.”

“That is not necessarily true in the real world,” said the 36-year-old. “You can put in a ton of work and do a lot right and not get anywhere.”

The financial adjustment was equally challenging. “That transition was a little bit difficult in that I had to cut back significantly,” Peters said. “There was a lot of learning very quickly” given the “big gap in what I was making then and what I make now.”

For the past six years, Peters has been developing an affordable housing project in South Bend, Indiana, near her alma mater, Notre Dame. Despite calling it “the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life” due to regulatory hurdles and political complications, she finds purpose in “helping people that truly, genuinely need it.” Her affordable apartment building is scheduled to break ground next month and open in August 2027.

Coleman, now 38, also ventured into business. Along with former teammate Alana Beard, she franchised a Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurant in Roanoke, Virginia. She chaired a campaign to legalize sports betting in Maryland and now leads strategy and growth for the VIP team at fantasy sports platform Underdog, aiming to create opportunities for women and people of color in the industry.

“I knew from a very early age entrepreneurship and business were something that I was really, really passionate about,” Coleman said. She credits her parents for emphasizing education and long-term planning, which encouraged her to seek mentors and explore various industries during her playing career.

“I knew I didn’t want to be one of those players that retired, and it was like, ‘Oh gosh, what now?'” Coleman said.

Jayne Appel Marinelli, SVP of player relations for the players’ union and former center for the San Antonio Stars, counsels players on post-basketball careers. She acknowledges that transitions remain challenging despite support systems like the league and union’s joint tuition assistance, internship programs, and educational opportunities with Harvard Business School.

The players’ union has expanded opportunities by adding player internship slots to licensee contracts and partnering with universities. Athletes “sometimes need help recognizing that the skills that they have built are so easily transferable over to any role that they’re going to take on next,” Appel Marinelli noted.

Such support was nonexistent when the WNBA launched in 1997. “There was no stability in women’s sports,” Wicks recalled. “Our victory was, we got our next paycheck, and that the lights were on and that the bus was waiting there still.”

Then, “my dream was that the league would exist,” Wicks said. Nearly three decades later, her hope is that players “are compensated in a way that gives them freedom to do what they want in life.”

Peters believes players still need more guidance on financial planning and preparation for the future. “The general lifespan of a basketball player is not long,” she cautioned. “You have to be prepared to not be here tomorrow or the next year.”