Report: WNBA Investigating Las Vegas Aces for Potentially Circumventing Salary Cap

The WNBA is investigating the Las Vegas Aces for allegedly circumventing the league's salary cap, according to The Next's Howard Megdal.

Megdal provided details on Las Vegas' alleged scheme:

"According to those familiar with the allegations, the pattern alleged that the team followed typically involved a high-level member of the Aces instructing the agent of a potential signing — either a free agent, or an Aces player negotiating an extension — that at the conclusion of the phone call between team and agent, the agent would receive a call with an offer for a specific amount of money from a particular, pre-selected company. The work involved would be negligible, according to those familiar with the allegations."

The defending champion Aces have had a big offseason. They signed two-time MVP Candace Parker and filled out the roster by adding Alysha Clark, Cayla George, Alexis Peterson and Courtney Range.

Las Vegas reloading and the New York Liberty securing the services of Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot has led some to wonder whether some teams are enjoying an unfair competitive edge.

Megal hit on how WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has now been backed into a corner.

The league is facing increased scrutiny over its finances and player accommodations.

While the most recent collective bargaining agreement raised salaries, players can still earn far more playing overseas than they do playing in the WNBA. The prioritization rule, which was ushered in by the CBA, could squeeze a lot of players as well by forcing them to choose between cashing bigger paychecks in a foreign league or staying stateside.

Chartered travel has been a topic of discussion as well, with Stewart effectively challenging the WNBA to do more. Engelbert reiterated recently in an interview with ESPN's M.A. Voepel that chartered travel for all 12 teams is cost-prohibitive.

In the view of some, the Aces were merely attempting to address some of the structural inequities WNBA players are facing. By levying a significant punishment against Las Vegas, the league might then create the perception it would rather discipline more monied owners than go about creating a better ecosystem for labor.

By letting the Aces effectively skate, however, Engelbert could risk upsetting other owners.

"It's obvious that whenever a team has success, there's a certain amount of sour grapes involved," one source said to Megdal. "This is extremely not that."

In general, the story seems to hit at the current divide among the WNBA's ownership base.

On one side, you have a group that's willing and ready to make the requisite investments in what is one of the world's best women's basketball leagues. Davis took pride in making Becky Hammon the first WNBA head coach to earn seven figures annually.

On the other side is a group that's largely content to maintain the status quo.

"For some owners, the WNBA team has been a place to park losses elsewhere in their corporations," Megdal wrote for Sports Illustrated last March. "Some view it as pure charity—one WNBA owner proudly proclaims the value of the WNBA team to be zero, according to multiple league sources, and thus all he spends on his team is effectively a contribution toward the greater good of women's sports."

It will be fascinating to see how the investigation into the Aces evolves and how Engelbert tries to placate the two camps.