Becky Hammon, a superstar point guard for the San Antonio Silver Stars of the WNBA finished 2nd in the leagues MVP voting last season, but was not invited to the Team USA tryouts, when the list of 23 players was announced. She later got an invite when the list was increased to 30 players but was told she had no legitimate shot of making the team. Hammond like many other WNBA players, play overseas for most of the year, because of the better pay, Hammond has a 4 year, 2 million dollar contract (500,000 per season) with a Russian team. In many of these overseas leagues there is a maximum number American players who are allowed, so many countries will grant Americans citizenship (Diana Taurasi, Italy, and Sue Bird, Israel, etc.) Russia granted Hammond expedited citizenship and invited her to play for the Russian Olympic team. Hammond citing that the US team did not want her agreed she would play for Russia, and since has been criticized by some other players and coaches for being a traitor. The US team doesn't want her why can't she go play somewhere else, the one part I disagree with is that she has no ties to Russia, whereas Taurasi and Bird do have family ties to the countries they hold citizenship in. (Taurasi and Bird will both play for the US team) The US has granted citizenship to African runners to help the US strengthen their chances in long distance running, who have no ties to the US. It just goes to show that the Olympics are more about winning medals and money than really caring which country the athletes are competing for. Maybe the US women's team is worried about Russia who is ranked #3 in the world picking up one of the best PGs in the world? Or that with her underdog story of undrafted player to league superstar and good looks, she is a marketing dream that the US team will not be able to capitalize on.
