Why do women's basketball players stay in school four years?

YES. It will have an impact on the rest of her life. And life is about so much more than the "employment" one choses.

Yes. I believe that it will have a very positive impact for her to get it now.

 

I look at those WNBA salaries and can understand why. Also, while there may be more money overseas, lots of people don't want to move to another country to live.

 

Guilty on all charges.

 

For $1 million? I don't buy it. College kids today go spend a year in Europe on a whim to "find themselves." But they don't want to do it for $1 million?

 

What positive impact will it have?

 

The WNBA minimum is $36,570. The max $105,000. Few have high-paying endorsements. For most to make big money they have to play year round all over the world. Like others have said, that means spending time away from all their family and friends in an unfamiliar culture.

They also have no off-season. No time to recover from injuries, to rest or do anything other than basketball. And for most of them it's to make maybe mid six figures, not the kind of ultra-life-changing money that NFL and NBA players make.

Female basketball players have it pretty good at major colleges too. Often they use the same facilities and enjoy the same perks as the men's team.

 

No one can be a basketball player forever. It might help to have some kind of knowledge or degree upon which to fall back when the end of her career happens.

 

Going there for four months and going there for the 10+ years it would take to maximize earning potential is a huge difference.

 

Candace Parker also got her degree a year early, so it's a poor example.

 

Do you think Brittney Griner will ever need a college degree to get a job? Do you think a college degree will be the difference between landing and not landing a job for Brittney Griner?

 

Also, it needs to be said that basketball may not be something viable longterm for Griner anyway. If she gets pregnant and wants to raise a family, her career could end just like that.

 

You have all given good reasons why some women might not choose to leave college to play in Europe for $1 million.

You have not adequately explained why NOBODY does.

Also: Everyone keeps talking about leaving one year early. Women mature so early that there is no reason a Griner couldn't leave after her freshman year. We're talking three years of earning potential. Just flushed away. Why? To please their benevolent overlords.