All right, ladies. I’m going to offend you. If you’re easily offended, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Ex-Gamecock star A’ja Wilson has provoked a little tongue wagging about pay.
A’ja helped the Lady Gamecocks win a national title. Now she’s signed a pro contract with the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA.
It didn’t seem right that NBA super star LeBron James could sign a $154 million contract to play for the Los Angeles Lakers and No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton sign for more than $6.8 million in his first season with the Phoenix Suns.
As the WNBA’s No. 1 pick, she complained that she’s only getting an average of $55,052 a year, with a team option worth $67,020 for a fourth season.
Not a lot of kids from the Carolina Class of 2017 are getting $55,000 a year. 
Of course,  none of them are A’ja Wilson.
Is it fair for the boys make a hundred times what the girls are paid?
Consider that:
• The NBA is highly profitable. The Chicago Bulls are the most profitable team, averaging a $55 million profit over five years.
• WNBA owners are secretive but analysts say the New York franchise loses money and is for sale. The Aces moved to Las Vegas in hopes of making a profit.
The WNBA needs to do a better job of selling its games and players to fans and TV deals. This is supply and demand in action.
• LeBron James can pack an arena by himself and attract millions of TV eyeballs.
When was the last time you watched the WNBA?
• Maybe A’ja picked the wrong sports agent. 
Maybe she should have hired LeBron’s agent – if he wanted to represent her.
But why go to the effort to get blood out of the turnip the WNBA is when an agent can get a huge payday with commissions on multi-million dollar contracts he negotiated with the NBA?
With WNBA players averaging $110,000 a year, it sounds like A’ja needed to pick a better agent.
NBA players make a minimum of $815,000 but the NBA rakes in $7.4 billion in revenue. The WNBA dribbles in $25 million.
Is this a gender pay-gap issue? Are WNBA players being exploited?
No. This isn’t tennis, soccer or skating. In those, the TV ratings and ticket sales between the men’s and women’s sports are closer.
Basketball writer Tim Benz wrote that he was really sorry she isn’t making millions of dollars to play.
“Male athletes get hammered on social media and talk radio all the time for whining about not making enough money,” he wrote.
If A’ja is upset that her pay isn’t based on WNBA cash coming in, that may be a valid argument.
She said NBA players get 50% of revenues and the WNBA players get 30%.
WNBA players and agents should negotiate that.

Think I’m full of it? Email Sports Editor Thomas Grant at chroniclesports@yahoo.com and suggest firing me.