With NIL money stacked from college, will WNBA players need to play overseas?

In No Offseason, The Athletic follows the paths of women’s basketball players after their WNBA seasons end and their travels begin. From Turkey, Israel, Italy, Czech Republic, Mexico and even here in the U.S., our reporters tell the stories of these players as they chase their dreams and try to shape the future of the WNBA.

Tiffany Hayes recently reflected on things that improve her spirits while playing abroad — something she’s done regularly in her WNBA offseasons since being drafted in 2012. Near the top of her list is relaxing by bodies of water. That’s one reason Hayes has a fondness for her current team this winter in Mersin, Turkey, by the Mediterranean coast. It’s why the former All-Star speaks glowingly about playing for America de Recife, a club on the eastern coast of Brazil. There, in 2014, she lived just a 10-minute cab ride from the beach. If money didn’t matter, she says, “That’s where I would go.”

But supplementing her income was important to the 33-year-old guard when deciding after college if, and where, she would play internationally. Hayes won national championships at UConn in 2009 and 2010. As she’s watched the current generation of well-known Huskies financially benefit from their name, image and likeness while in college, she’s…