Cuban speculates on possibility of female NBA player
Brittney Griner stands as one of the best college basketball players in the game. The 6-foot-8 senior from Baylor University has won basically every significant award for every level of basketball at which she’s played and surely stands a shot at the WNBA.
Typically, that is as far as a women’s player can go – time in the WNBA and spots on the Olympic basketball team, but now a possibility for a career in the NBA has opened up.
Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, said he would consider drafting Griner if he feels she is one of the best players out there.
“Right now, I’d lean toward yes, just to see if she can do it,” Cuban said. “You never know unless you give somebody a chance.”
It comes as a shock to many for Cuban to say such a thing. For years, the NBA has been closed to women except for a few contracts as publicity stunts rather than a team furthering itself. Yet here, an owner of a NBA team is considering drafting a woman out of college, giving her just as fair of a chance as the best men’s basketball players in the country.
It is certainly nice to see; Griner is so talented that she deserves the attention she could get by playing in the NBA rather than the WNBA.
While many are certainly impressed by Cuban’s progressive thinking, some aren’t completely convinced. Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma called Cuban’s statements into question.
“The fact that a woman could actually play right now in the NBA and compete successfully against the level of play that they have is absolutely ludicrous” Auriemma said.
Cuban fired back rather quickly though, citing that he is putting the team first ahead of tradition. As the next few months play out, we will just have to wait and see whether Cuban will keep to his word and force Auriemma to eat his words, or if Brittney Griner will fall off the map.
