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It has to be a bit unsettling for the WNBA that the stars they promoted to begin the league -- Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie, and Sheryl Swoopes -- have not played like stars.
On the other hand, people now know the names Cynthia Cooper, Ruthie Bolton-Holifield, Sophia Witherspoon, and Teresa Weatherspoon, all of whom have played quite well without preseason hype.
The understudies are stealing the show, but they aren't making the dough.
This, as I look at the ABL and the WNBA, may be the biggest deficiency of the WNBA. Lobo-Leslie-Swoopes all signed contracts much larger than is allowed to be given to the other players in the league, but it is those other players who are the stars of the league. You have to wonder what Cynthia Cooper -- who is easily the league's MVP at this point -- is thinking when she is outplaying players making five times as much as she is. And the WNBA has capped her salary.
Hello ABL!
The ABL pays its players what they demand talentwise. Now that the WNBA has packaged Cooper so well, the ABL can try to sign her and have a marketable and legitimate star.
Hmmm.