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Kelsey Plum Explains the 'Huge Misconception' About the WNBA's Fight for Better Pay

WNBA star Kelsey Plum
WNBA star Kelsey Plum

Steve Christo - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Kelsey Plum

WNBA champion Kelsey Plum is breaking down the stark contrast in pay discrepancies between WNBA and NBA players.

Plum, 28, made an appearance on The Residency Podcast and the Las Vegas Aces star talked about the ways WNBA players are compensated differently than the men who play the same sport.

"We're not asking to pay what the men get paid," Plum told the show's hosts Jeff Tomastik, Lowell Raven, and Drew Belcher. "We're asking to get paid the same percentage of revenue shared."

Plum wanted "to be really clear about" her emphasis being on the percentages of revenue and not salaries for individual players, which she said is often "a huge misconception" in conversations on the topic.

"I don't think I should get paid the same as LeBron [James]," said Plum, who helped lead the Aces to the 2022 WNBA championship and USA Basketball to a gold medal in the same summer.

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However, Plum claimed that she does not receive a portion of sales on her own jerseys sold at Mandalay Bay, referring to the Aces' arena. "I don't get a dime," she said. According to the WNBA and the Women's National Basketball Players Association's 2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement, the WNBPA receives 50% of players' jersey sales.

RELATED: Kelsey Plum Says Cherelle Griner Told Her to 'Go Get It For My Wife' Before All-Star MVP Performance

Plum went on to break down additional ways NBA players bring in more substantial portions of the league's revenue.

"Every year, these contracts get bigger and bigger and bigger," she says of NBA players, "but that's because their CBA negotiates" various avenues of income such as "jersey sales and TV contracts," according to Plum.

"In the WNBA, thats not the case," she said.

WNBA star Kelsey Plum announces partnership with fashion brand GSTQ
WNBA star Kelsey Plum announces partnership with fashion brand GSTQ

GSTQ Kelsey Plum for GSTQ

RELATED: Kelsey Plum on WNBA Viewership, That 'Tiny' All-Star MVP Trophy, and Her New Brand Partnership

In July, Plum opened up further on the topic in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE. "With our league, a lot of times, I think as a woman, people feel like they're doing you a favor if they're supporting you or watching you…and I don't think it's intentional," she said.

"I don't want people's pity," she continued. "I want you to come watch me play because I'm damn good at what I do, man or woman."

Plum elaborated: "It's so interesting, when you go watch LeBron James play, you don't say, 'I'm supporting LeBron.' You say, 'I'm going to go watch LeBron play basketball.' Right?"

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It's no secret that the WNBA has long struggled with viewership, especially in comparison to the NBA. In recent years, however, the women's basketball league has seen real momentum, evident in this year's All-Star Game viewership, which saw the most viewers since 2015.

According to The Athletic, the 2022 WNBA All-Star Game peaked at 768,000 viewers.

"We're moving in the right direction," Plum told The Residency Podcast hosts. "We may not be moving at the speed that we'd like to, but you gotta take it."