November 25, 2009 - 2:10pm
Lauren Jackson, regarded by many as the world's best active women's basketball player, will not return to Russia for the European season following the assassination of the Shabtai Kalmanovitch, the owner of Spartak Moscow, her Russian basketball club. Kalmanovitch was mowed down while by multiple assailants armed with semi-automatic weapons, wounded at least 20 times while driving his Mercedes through the Russian capital, in an apparent Russian mob hit.
Jackson, who has been at the Australian Institute of Sport rehabilitating the two stress fractures in her back that kept her out of action during the Seattle Storm's abbreviated WNBA playoff run this season, had not yet arrived in Russia at the time of Kalmanovitch's slaying. She did travel to Israel to attend the funeral of the owner who bestowed lavish salaries and benefits on his players, a collection of the world's top stars, and was affectionately called "Papa" by many of them. She was expected to return to the Euroleague next month.
Jackson opted out of the final two years of her Russian contract and will return to the Australian WNBL for the first time in three years, rejoining the Canberra Capitals, the team with which she won four WNBL titles. (Jackson won her fifth WNBL title while playing with AIS.) Though rumors of a pending deal have been circulating over the past week, Jackson beat the WNBL's mid-season registration deadline by a matter of hours according to Australian press reports.
Jackson, who is still recuperating from her back injury, will not be ready to play in Canberra's game against the Sydney Flames this weekend, and is not expected to take the court before December 5 when the Capitals take on Bendigo. That means she is likely to play only nine games for the Capitals, who are currently ranked fifth in the WNBL with a 6-4 record. At a reported salary of $220,000 AUD or the balance of the Australian season, that works out to $815 AUD per minute if Jackson maintains her customary average of around 30 minutes per game on the court. On average, WNBL players earn approximately $20,000 AUD per season.
Canberra obviously considers the price tag well worth it, as they have become the instant favorites to take the WNBL title and has Canberra considering moving the remainder of their games to a larger venue. Members of the Canberra business community, led by Actew Corporation chairman John Mackey, joined with the ACT government, who contributed a $50,000 grant to meet Jackson's salary.