{"id":644231,"date":"2026-03-09T23:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T23:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/644231\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T23:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T23:11:13","slug":"cavs-head-coach-kenny-atkinson-has-simple-advice-for-wnba-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/644231\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson has simple advice for WNBA players"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND \u2014 Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> head coach Kenny Atkinson has a short rotation of hats and quarter zips he wears to his pregame press conferences. His well-worn Cleveland WNBA hat that\u2019s starting to fade around the edges is one of them. He, appropriately, had that one on during Monday\u2019s pregame availability on the day the Cavs are celebrating International Women\u2019s Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so cool that Cleveland is going to have a [WNBA] team,\u201d Atkinson said before his team\u2019s game against the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

That team is going to be coming in a few seasons, but first, the WNBA will need to navigate its current labor dispute. The league and the players have exchanged collective bargaining agreement proposals<\/a> ahead of the league-imposed March 10 deadline. One of the main sticking points is how much the players should be getting of the league\u2019s revenue.<\/p>\n

Atkinson clarified that he isn\u2019t a union negotiator, but it\u2019s safe to say he\u2019s on the players\u2019 side.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo get your money,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cGo for it. That\u2019s what it\u2019s about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right now, they aren\u2019t getting that.<\/p>\n

The players\u2019 union proposed a deal that would see the players keep 26% of gross revenue<\/a> before expenses. The league believes that would be unrealistic<\/a>. Under the previous agreement, WNBA players kept less than 10% of revenue<\/a>. For comparison, in 2022 NBA players reportedly kept half of basketball-related income and 39% of all revenue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

What isn\u2019t up for debate is the fact that the WNBA is more popular now than ever. Derailing that momentum would be detrimental to the league\u2019s long-term health.<\/p>\n

Atkinson admitted that he wasn\u2019t watching the league much three to five years ago. Now he watches for entertainment and also to learn. He\u2019s impressed with the offensive sets that teams run and their level of execution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an attention to detail, especially offensively with the sets they run,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201c[I try] to find a good ATO (after timeout play) or set that I haven\u2019t seen. \u2026 You really can grab a lot of good stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hopefully, the WNBA and its players\u2019 association can come to a deal soon so that games aren\u2019t missed. And more importantly, hopefully it\u2019s one that rewards the players who have led to the explosion of the league\u2019s popularity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want the players to push for what they think is just and deserved,\u201d Atkinson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND \u2014 Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson has a short rotation of hats and quarter zips he…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":644232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[3128,204935,3123,7202,3138,62,358,67,132,68,232,72202],"class_list":{"0":"post-644231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","9":"tag-kenny-atkinson","10":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","11":"tag-san-antonio","12":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-wnba","19":"tag-wnba-players"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116201749806512813","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}