Keri Chaconas wanted to get married in the spring to avoid a conflict with the Washington Mystics' training camp. Now, she'll be worried about keeping her job when she returns from her honeymoon.
Chaconas, a 3-point specialist for the WNBA's Mystics, who started just one game last season, is uncertain about her future after the collapse of the rival American Basketball League three days before Christmas.Like many marginal WNBA players, Chaconas fears an influx of the ABL's best players will push her off the roster of a team that went 3-27 last year and is desperate for more talent.
"There are a lot of players out there to choose from," she said. "It's going to be much tougher to land a spot on a team. The WNBA is the only option now."
Jennifer Rizzotti is one of those ABL stars who plan to seek work in the WNBA. The point guard for the New England Blizzard talked with the league last season before signing a three-year contract extension with the Blizzard.
"I know from talking with the WNBA that it's certainly not a bad option, and I definitely want to be part of it," said Rizzotti, who's also getting married but may have to postpone the wedding, planned for July.
The ABL, a fall-winter league that debuted in 1996 about eight months before the WNBA, went bankrupt Dec. 22 and suspended the rest of its 1998-99 season. Players on its nine teams were told to expect only part of their December paychecks.
The WNBA, which plays from June to August, already had planned to expand to 12 teams, with new franchises in Minnesota and Orlando, Fla., this year. WNBA officials say it's too early to speculate on whether the ABL's demise will lead to more expansion.
The shutdown of the ABL came during the NBA lockout. So, officials at the WNBA and at the NBA Players' Association, which also represents WNBA players, have not had much time to fully consider how the ABL's demise will affect them.
Frank Layden, coach of the Utah Starzz, said the disappearance of the ABL will lead to changes in the surviving league.
"Initially, it will mean that the caliber of player is better and that it will be tougher to make a WNBA team. Training camps will be very competitive, no doubt about it," he said. "But the WNBA appears to be adding a couple of new teams each year, so eventually there will be more professional jobs playing basketball for women in the United States."
Layden would like to see another league form, perhaps a notch below the WNBA in talent.
"The more opportunities the women have to play, the better the talent will be," he said. "That's why I hope there can be a CBA-type league formed for women who aren't ready for the WNBA. It would give players more opportunities to develop their skills as professionals."
Among the questions that may have to be considered are whether the WNBA should hold a supplemental draft of ABL players, and whether the WNBA will limit the number of ABL players on its rosters.
"It is still premature to have definitive answers in regard to the ABL players and their assimilation into the WNBA," said WNBA spokesman Mark Pray.