For the Storm, money was a ‘motivating factor’ in Commissioner’s Cup

The Seattle Storm had money on the mind during the team’s Commissioner’s Cup run.

With $500,000 on the line, the Storm came to play in Thursday’s Commissioner’s Cup Championship Game. Seattle downed Connecticut, 79-57, earning $30,000 per player.

Sue Bird emphasized the importance of the Commissioner’s Cup prize money during the post-game ceremony, quipping that trophy “weighs the same amount of pounds as our bonus money.”

"I noticed you put that trophy down, how much you think it weighs?"

Sue Bird: "It actually weighs the same amount of pounds as our BONUS moneyyy!"😂

The @SeattleStorm win the first WNBA Commissioner's Cup, meaning players take home about $30K each! courtesy/Prime video pic.twitter.com/lAWaOaiu0i

— Alyssa Charlston (@Alyssacharlston) August 13, 2021

Breanna Stewart echoed Bird’s sentiments in the post-game press conference, revealing that securing the prize money for her teammates was a “motivating factor” behind the win.

“We wanted to win for them. Obviously 30K is 30K for all of us, but for some of them, it’s, I don’t even know what the ratio is for Kiana, but it’s a lot. To really help them get that is amazing.”

Bird said the Cup winnings were something the team focused on all season.

“I think we were one of the few teams that right from the jump, we are like, oh, this is a Commissioner’s Cup game and every time we won, we’d talk about it afterwards, like, Commissioner’s Cup, one step closer to that money,” said Bird, “Definitely we were talking about it all year.”