The Washington Wizards have a unique member on their coaching staff and her name is Kristi Toliver.
Some of us may know Toliver from her days at the University of Maryland where she was the star point guard and hit the game winning shot to ultimately, win a National Championship over Duke in 2006. Or is it possible some remember her from her seven seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks, where she brought back a WNBA Championship trophy for the city.
Or you might be a Wizards fan and know that she is one of the assistant coaches on the bench.
Most people fail to realize that the WNBA season only last about four mouths, and maybe five if the team is in the playoffs. The players have to find away to make a living during the off-season and some choose to go overseas to play. But, that could be taxing on the body and could take away from the long-term of their WNBA careers.
After Kristi Toliver had a solid season with the Washington Mystics while helping them to a WNBA Finals she received a call from Washington Wizards. The Wizards had made her and offer to be an assistant coach to Scott Brooks.
Toliver was interested of course but complications occurred when the compensation question arose.
Since the Mystics and the Wizards were owned by the same person the WNBA Collective Bargaining Agreement will not allow Toliver to get paid like the rest of the assistant coaches making $100,000 a year. She will only make about $10,000 contract and that had to come out of the Mystics off-season player found of only $50,000. Most of that money was already assigned to Toliver’s teammate, Elena Delle Donne, who normally stays in DC to do promotions for the Mystics.
Toliver accepted the position even though she was getting paid less.
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Toliver said. “For me, I looked at the pros and the cons, the pros obviously being I get to rest my body, it being my first time in 10 years of not playing year-round, not going overseas. Obviously there are financial burdens that come with that, but this is also a very exciting opportunity that I want to take advantage of, being home, still being around the game, around the best players in the world, around the best coaches in the world.” via New York Times
Unfortunately at the moment, Toliver will not be able to make the same as her counterparts, but eventually, when she decides to put the basketball shoes away forever she will be prepared for her more classier set of kicks.