Nakia SanfordFriends may think Nakia Sanford’s job as a professional basketball player is all play and no work, but the WNBA veteran knows better.
For starters, there’s no cushy offseason or LeBron James-size paycheck.
“We don’t have the salaries that the men do, so we actually play year-round,” the Mystics center explained, adding that most WNBA athletes spend six to seven months playing in Europe or elsewhere. That means holidays are rarely spent at home with family: Sanford said she is usually overseas for Thanksgiving and has spent every major holiday outside the country, except Christmas. Most countries will give players a five-day break on average for the winter holiday season, Sanford said — but that includes travel time.
“So you can imagine being somewhere like Italy, and you have to fly home, get there that day, you have two or three days, and then that fourth or fifth day you’re flying back overseas,” Sanford said.
Combine that with 17 away games this WNBA season, and suddenly it’s clear why Sanford — who’s averaging 6.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game so far this season — thinks an opportunity to just chill on her couch with her dog on her lap sounds mighty appealing. Of course, her family teases her for not taking trips when she does have vacation.
“I’m like, ‘Well, I go somewhere for a living’,” Sanford said, though she said she has been able to go places she never dreamed of thanks to her job — including stints on teams in Italy, Belgium, and France, and most recently for the Russian team Chevakata, which made it to the semi-finals at the women’s EuroCup in February.
