CNN Foolishly Blames WNBA-NBA Pay Gap For Brittney Griner's Drug Arrest

Blame the pay gap between the NBA and WNBA for Brittney Griner having drugs in her possession while in Russia. That's a request directly from CNN.

"The reason Brittney Griner and other women are in Russia playing basketball is because they don't get paid anywhere near what the men get paid in the U.S." says Dana Bash. "And that's just what they do."

Didn't new CNN management vow to smarten up these hosts?

Bash attempts to argue that Griner had to go to Russia to make money because the WNBA won't pay female players what the NBA pays male players. Let's deconstruct her argument in steps:

First, the pay gap is unrelated to carrying vape cartridges that contain hash oil. See, Griner could have gone to Russia to earn money and not carried an illegal substance.

Second, Griner just signed a 3-year contract for more than $600,000. So she's not desperate for cash.

Third, and most importantly, Griner should not make as much as NBA players do. The pay gap is not sexist but economical.

The WNBA earns not a fraction of the NBA. The NBA generates an annual revenue average of $7.4 billion, while the WNBA averages around $60 million.

$7.4 billion vs. $60 million.

Around 1.5 million people watch an NBA game compared to around  200,000 for a WNBA matchup.

If WNBA teams paid Griner an amount equivalent to the NBA, her team would go under and she'd earn nothing.

I hope to see Griner safe and back in the United States. But the salary differences between the NBA and WNBA do not correlate to Griner breaking a law in Russia.

Unfortunately, this type of common sense didn't make it onto the set of CNN. That woman on-air with Bash nodded along as if she were some voice of authority. She isn't, obviously.

Using CNN's logic, a local anchor in Omaha should make the same salary as Bash. And if the Omaha-based anchor robs a bank to pay rent, we should blame the pay gap between network and local anchors for that.