Brittney Griner has been generating a lot of buzz around the NBA.  Yes, that’s right.  A female basketball player has been a matter of discussion among men’s professional basketball teams.  Who is she?  Brittney is arguably one of the greatest women’s college basketball players of all-time, playing at Baylor University.  She is a three-time All-American, a three-time Big 12 Player of the Year and a 2012 NCAA Women’s College Basketball champion.  Recently, Griner’s spectacular four-year college career came to a close when the Bears lost in the Sweet Sixteen of the Women’s NCAA March Madness Tournament.  Just what makes Griner so special? She stands at a towering 6-foot-8-inches and weighs 207 pounds, physically dominating all of her opponents.  In fact, Griner wears around a size 17 men’s basketball shoe!

Brittney was just recently drafted  by the Phoenix Mercury as the first overall selection in the WBNA draft . However, there has been much debate over whether Griner should accept a contract with the Mercury or hold out for a chance to play in the NBA. This sounds crazy, especially since there has never been a woman player in the NBA. However, Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, made a comment about how he would give her a chance, either by drafting her or by letting her tryout in the summer league. Cuban said, “I’ve thought about it already. Would I do it? Right now, I’d lean toward yes, just to see if she can do it. You never know unless you give somebody a chance.” The question everybody should be asking themselves is whether or not she can compete in the NBA with the likes of Lebron James and Kevin Durant.

The answer seems to be an easy one- No. Scouts believe Griner would have a tough time in the NBA. While she is huge compared to other players in women’s basketball, she would be an undersized big man amongst a team of men. Also, she is nowhere near strong or talented enough to compete.  Junior Alina Edep, who played basketball for her first two years at Pine Crest, also agrees that Griner wouldn’t make it in the NBA.  She said, “I think that even though she’s really talented and it’s great she wants to do something for women in sports, she’s pretty small, and the guys in the NBA are just too big to compete with her.”

Going back to what Cuban said, people ask if his outspoken ideas are just a publicity stunt by him or if he firmly believes she can make a difference in the NBA. Personally, I think he just let his mouth run in public like he always does, and there is really no substance to what he has said about drafting Griner. There’s no chance that Brittney Griner can improve a bad Mavericks team, and she definitely isn’t the missing piece that the team needs.

With that being said about Griner not being talented enough, women should have the opportunity to play in men’s sports. If Griner truly is good enough to compete with men, she should be able to play, and I would love to see her get the chance. While it definitely will be hard in a physical sport like basketball for women to compete, there could be an opportunity for women in a non-contact sport or non-contact position, such as being a kicker or punter in the NFL. Women will have a very difficult challenge in order to make it into men’s sports.  However, there is certainly  a possibility that somebody else along the way comes and proves everyone wrong, but it most likely wont be Brittney Griner.

Source: http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/story/_/id/9127664/mark-cuban-give-brittney-griner-opportunity-dallas-mavericks