Martin prime example why Aces’ LVCVA deal is brilliant
It was brilliant to see the LVCVA pledge $100,000 to every player on the Aces in a sponsorship deal to augment the players' salaries, writes The Sporting Tribune's W.G. Ramirez.
Good morning and welcome to The Morning Column presented by The Sporting Tribune. Please subscribe if you haven’t done so already. It’s free and will be delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. OK, let’s get to it!
1. Martin prime example why Aces’ LVCVA deal is brilliant
It was brilliant to see the LVCVA pledge $100,000 to every player on the Aces in a sponsorship deal to augment the players' salaries, writes The Sporting Tribune's W.G. Ramirez.
I hope WNBA No. 1 overall draft pick Caitlin Clark makes millions of dollars.
I also hope her former teammate at Iowa, No. 18 overall draft pick Kate Martin, makes her fair share.
Considering Clark has reportedly already inked multi-million dollar sponsorship deals, Martin will be lucky to clear $50,000 after taxes for her rookie season with the Aces.
For the amount of hype — and revenue — all of the players are bringing to the WNBA this season, these women deserve to be paid properly.
From the rookies to the All-Stars, they all deserve much more than those proverbial flowers, the modern-day term for compliments and accolades. They’re nice but it’s the paper they need to start seeing a lot more of this season.
If that means finding sponsorship money to make up for what teams cannot pay because of a very low salary cap, then so be it.
2. One-on-one with Sparks rookie Rickea Jackson
The Sporting Tribune's Rey Moralde sat down with Los Angeles Sparks rookie Rickea Jackson for an excusive interview with her.
The Sparks had two picks in the Top 4 of last month’s WNBA Draft. L.A. took Cameron Brink with the second pick overall and then followed up by choosing Rickea Jackson from Tennessee with the fourth pick.
If Jackson had jitters, she certainly didn’t show it. She scored seven points in her first pro game against Atlanta, which included an electrifying steal and a lay-up to beat the halftime buzzer. She did even better in her second game (which was against Las Vegas) as she scored a smooth 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting.
We caught up with the highly-touted rookie at Sparks practice on Monday for a one-on-one conversation.
3. Poirier may retire if he wins at UFC 302
UFC fighter Dustin Poirier is contemplating retirement after 13 years in the Octagon, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Fredo Cervantes.
A perfect end to an illustrious career in the Octagon may be happening at UFC 302 for the Lightweight title.
Dustin Poirier (30-8-0) recently won against Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299 in March.
Poirier spoke with The Sporting Tribune as he prepares for his title match on June 1 at UFC 302 against Lightweight champion Islam Makhachev (25-1-0) at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
The Diamond earned a title match after causing an upset by defeating Saint Denis.
Saint Denis came into the match on a five-fight winning streak, all with finishes in the first two rounds. Poirier was seen as an opportunity for him to enter the top tier of challengers in the division under Islam Makhachev, but it turned out to be the 35-year-old’s night.
Poirier was considered an underdog at +188 according to FanDuel. It took two rounds for Poirier to defeat Saint Denis. He thought “It was crazy” that he was an underdog, but he understood why.
4. Pederson’s home run powers Diamondbacks, downs Dodgers
Diamondbacks bats wake up as Dodgers' can't capitalize on runners in scoring position in a 7-3 loss on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Grant Mona.
Designated hitter Joc Pederson hit a three-run homer that helped the Diamondbacks to a 7-3 victory over the Dodgers, who could not muster timely hits Tuesday night.
Arizona came out swinging in the second of the three-game series. Using home runs from Christian Walker (his ninth) and Pederson (his sixth), the Dodgers had no answer for the Diamondbacks, who got 12 hits. Pederson’s homer was the dagger, though, off reliever Michael Grove and extend the lead to four.
The Dodgers (33-18) struggled, going 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position and racking up only six hits. Shohei Ohtani and Gavin Lux were the only Dodgers with multi-hit efforts as the team suffered 10 strikeouts.
Right-hander Gavin Stone (4-2) did not have his best stuff working, giving up four runs over six innings and raising his ERA to 3.60. Diamondbacks starter Brandon Pfaadt had a great start for Arizona, going six innings as well but allowing two earned runs and striking out seven.
5. Sparks preserve first win with defensive stand against Mystics
The Sparks win their first game of the regular season in dramatic fashion over Washington, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Rey Moralde.
It was not a pretty game at all.
But a win is a win and the Sparks will take it any way they can get it. The final score was 70-68 against the still-winless Washington Mystics.
It was scary, to say the least, when the Sparks went on a very dry spell in the second quarter. They went scoreless for 6:06 before Lexie Brown finally broke the seal with a free throw.
L.A. came back from nine points down before they built their own nine-point lead. The Mystics were able to whittle down the lead. Kia Nurse split her free throws to build it back to a 70-68 advantage before the Sparks made that stand.
6. Aces fall to Mercury, suffer first loss of season
Kahleah Copper scored an impressive and efficient 37 points on Tuesday night, leading the Mercury to a 98-88 win over the Aces, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Will Despart.
When Jackie Young gets in an opponents’ face during a scuffle, you know it’s real.
The problem was, it was all too real for the Aces on Tuesday night.
They suffered their first loss of the season, falling 98-88 to Phoenix as Kahleah Copper willed the Mercury to victory with a 37-point effort. Thus, avenging their season-opening loss to the defending champs one week before.
The Mercury made a franchise-record 16 3-pointers on 33 attempts. They were two three-pointers shy of the WNBA regular-season record set by the Aces last May.
The game was all Copper’s at the outset. The ninth-year guard scored 12 of the Mercury’s first 19 points, giving Phoenix a lead that stretched to as many as 10 in the first quarter.
7. Video of the Day
Make sure to subscribe to The Sporting Tribune YouTube page for all of our latest videos:
8. Ticket Time
Here are the “get in” prices for tickets if you’re thinking about going to a game today:
7:00 p.m. – Diamondbacks at Dodgers – $28
9. On the Air
Here are the game times and television channels for professional teams in the region today:
11:00 a.m. – Angels at Astros – Bally Sports West
7:00 p.m. – Diamondbacks at Dodgers – SportsNet LA
10. The Arash Markazi Show presented by The Sporting Tribune
Listen to The Arash Markazi Show presented by The Sporting Tribune on The Mightier 1090 ESPN Radio in Southern California, 98.5 The Bet in Las Vegas and the Hawaii Sports Radio Network 95.1 FM and 760 AM in Hawaii. You can also listen to the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher. You can also watch every Friday on BLEAV on FuboTV.
Thank you for reading. Please click below to subscribe to The Morning Column presented by The Sporting Tribune. It’s free and will be delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.
That’s it for today. Talk to you tomorrow!