Betnijah Laney-Hamilton Talks the Future of the WNBA — Including Higher Salaries

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We don’t know about you, but we’re still buzzing from the 2024 WNBA season, which was the most-reviewed regular season ever across ESPN platforms, up 170 percent from last season. It also boasted a jaw-dropping 154 sellouts, a 242 percent increase from 2023, per the WNBA.

That’s not even touching some of the players’ individual achievements. Forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, for instance, came back from a knee injury to play a pivotal role in New York Liberty’s championship win. She even earned the game ball after her dominant performance in WNBA Finals Game 2 against the Minnesota Lynx.

PS had a chance to speak with Laney-Hamilton via Zoom as part of her partnership with Adidas to chat about what it felt like to win her first WNBA championship, what it’s been like to play in the WNBA during this record-breaking year, and what she’s doing next.

PS: Hi! Congratulations on your win — such an amazing game and season. How are you feeling? What have your days been like since winning Game 5?

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton: Thank you! Today was actually the first time I could reflect and put everything in perspective. I woke up just feeling grateful and joyful to be in this moment and be able to accomplish this goal with my team. It’s been a very long week, from the celebrations to parades to more celebrations, and all the things. A lot of my family and friends were here and just having everyone rally around me, support me, and uplift me has been really nice.

PS: That’s wonderful! The PS offices are near the ticker-tape parade route, so we were out cheering you on last week.

BLH: The parade was probably my favorite part. Just seeing everybody on the streets as we went by on floats was amazing.

PS: PS does a lot of reporting on women’s sports, and it feels like this past season has been so electric and validating with increased coverage. I saw that Game 5 was the most-watched WNBA finals in 25 years! Has the shift felt noticeable as a player?

BLH: Yes. The atmosphere alone when you walk into arena this year, it was really noticeable. The way we were being amplified — you could actually feel it. And yeah, it was pretty validating because this is something we’ve been doing, these are the things that we’ve been capable of. But now to have the eyes on us, the push from our partners and everybody doing everything that they can to amplify us and bring viewership to what it is that we’re doing, what it is that we’re capable of — it really means a lot.

PS: Thinking back to the start of your professional career, is there anything that’s happened in recent years that you would have been surprised or uplifted to hear about?

BLH: I’d say overcoming the obstacles I’ve faced — whether it was due to injuries, being waived, and other challenges. Being able to overcome those and to cement myself in the league, and now being a WNBA champion — it’s incredible.

PS: Is there anything specific you’ve learned from facing those obstacles, especially the injuries, this past season?

BLH: Yeah, I’d say that I’m definitely a very resilient person. I feel like at this point there’s literally nothing that I can’t handle. I’ve been at the lowest and I’ve been able to pick myself up and rebuild time after time and just be able to keep going regardless of what it is that I’m facing, whatever it is that I’m going through.

It’s about just trying to find the joy in the process. Everything might not always look how I want it to look, but there’s always something to be grateful for. There’s always something to have joy about. If I’m dealing with an injury today, [I see it as:] I have another day to get better. If I’m being waived, [I see it as:] OK, I have the opportunity to kind of regroup and redefine who it is that I want to be as a player.

That’s what has helped allow me to keep going in those moments when I’m dealing with obstacles, dealing with hurdles: trying to find something to be grateful for. Trying to find area that I can grow in. Thinking, “OK, this might not be what I want it to be, but what can I learn from this? What can I take from this? What can I do to get past this and become who it is that I want to become?”

PS: That’s such a powerful way of looking at challenges. Is that something you learned from someone or has it been more innate for you?

BLH: I’d say it’s something I’ve learned. I’ve been the person who’s been miserable with something or kind of soaked in whatever it is that I’m dealing with. But if I continued to do that, I stayed there.

Early on in my career, I started to really go to chapel. And my family is very faith-based. So in those moments, having people talk to me and having that relationship with the Lord, it’s allowed me to get here. So it’s definitely something that I’ve learned over the years and it doesn’t always look perfect, but I continue to tell myself to keep going and that nothing is as bad as it seems. Everybody’s going to have obstacles. That’s life. But it is what you do about that. It’s how you bounce back from that. It’s how you continue to grow and find ways to just be better.

PS: At PS, we’ve done a lot of reporting around equal pay in women’s sports, and I know WNBA players are looking at renegotiating their collective bargaining agreement. Do you have any thoughts on WNBA salaries and the progress players have been working toward?

BLH: We’ve been speaking about trying to get equal pay [that takes into account] the amount of games, what we put in, and the viewership that we bring in. And so this collective bargaining agreement will be a big one, as our [media] deal is coming to an end and we don’t know exactly what the revenue will be, but we know that it will be more. And so I’m really looking forward to just continuing to raise the pay for the WNBA.

PS: Us too! Switching gears slightly, we’re big sneakerheads at PS. We know you love playing in the Adidas Hardens. What sneakers do you enjoy off the court?

BLH: Sambas are one of my favorites. I have them in a bunch of different colors. I like the Handballs as well. They have a bunch of fun colors and that style is very versatile; you can dress it up, you can dress it down. I have the Yeezys, the Bad Bunnies, Gazelles. But if I had to pick one shoe to just wear forever, it would be the Sambas. My white and black ones are my go-tos. But I really love my Wales Bonner silver ones. I have a bunch of different pink ones — the Humanrace, and light pink Handballs. Anything pink is my go-to.

Mirel Zaman (she/her) is the health and fitness director at PS. She has over 15 years of experience working in the health and wellness space, covering fitness, general health, mental health, relationships and sex, food and nutrition, spirituality, family and parenting, culture, and news.