The Las Vegas Aces are under investigation by the WNBA for salary cap violations, The Next’s Howard Megdal reported Wednesday.
The reigning WNBA champions allegedly made under-the-table payment offers to players, sources told The Next. The Aces would inform the agent of a potential signee to expect a phone call with a sponsorship offer “from a particular, pre-selected company,” per the report.
The WNBA’s salary cap for the 2023 season stands at $1,420,500. The collective bargaining agreement prohibits teams from exceeding the cap, and it also explicitly forbids teams from making a deal with a sponsor “to pay compensation for basketball services.”
Per the CBA, the league looks out in particular for sponsorship agreements that exceed the fair market value for such deals, or for player contracts that fall below the fair market value in free agency.
While the report from The Next did not implicate any specific player contracts, the Aces did sign two-time MVP Candace Parker at a steep discount. The 36-year-old forward signed a one-year, $100,000 contract with Las Vegas, Her Hoops Stats’ Richard Cohen reported last week. She made an average annual…
