After seven days of wind, the morning is finally calm enough on New York’s East Moriches Bay for Sue Wicks to jetty her boat to check on her oysters. Hundreds of cages pop out at odd angles from their lines, and a few float away.

The retired WNBA star and Hall of Famer admits that the aquaculture farm she started at age 50 can be anxiety-inducing, but still, finds comfort in being on the water.

“I kind of like simple things. I kind of like this lifestyle. It was just a changing of who I am and finding value in what ignites my passion and not what the world thinks about it,” said Wicks, now 59.

Wicks, who has worked as a commentator, college basketball coach and at a fitness start-up since retiring from the WNBA in 2002, says she feels lucky to again find a career “that works for my soul.” But the reality is that even a successful run as one of the world’s best basketball players didn’t earn her enough to fully retire.

Although the WNBA is bringing in more than ever from sponsors and ticket sales, many players still find themselves financially unsteady when the final whistle blows.

“The choice is what they do as their second career, not whether they have a second career,” said Risa Isard, director of research and insights at women’s sports marketing platform Parity. Since “women athletes get paid a fraction of what men do while they’re playing,” Isard said their next acts tend to look more like traditional career paths rather than managing substantial investment portfolios.

The average NBA player earns around $11.9 million, according to data reviewed by The Associated Press. That's nearly 100 times what the WNBA says is the average salary of $120,000 for its players —- although major differences in league size, age, profit margins and media contracts account for part of that gap.

All this is happening against a backdrop of unresolved questions about the future of WNBA player compensation. Tensions have run high in the ongoing labor battle between the WNBA and the players’ union, although it is unclear how far apart the sides are in terms of compensation. Both parties agreed on Nov. 30 to an extension of the current collective bargaining agreement to Jan. 9 while negotiations continue.

A major sticking point has been revenue sharing: As the WNBA booms, players are looking for a larger share in that growth. They currently earn a significantly smaller fraction of the league’s revenue compared with NBA players.

The players' union says it has worked to further expand opportunities by adding player internship slots to licensee contracts, partnering with universities and more.

That kind of support didn't exist for Wicks' generation at the league's inception in 1997. There "was no stability in women's sports," she said. “Our victory was, we got our next paycheck, and that the lights were on and that the bus was waiting there still.”

Back then, “my dream was that the league would exist,” Wicks said. Almost 30 years later, her new dream is that players "are compensated in a way that gives them freedom to do what they want in life.”

AP video by Brittany Peterson

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