With Thanksgiving now within the rearview mirror and the calendar about to flip to December, a essential determination awaits stakeholders within the WNBA.
The present collective bargaining settlement expires Sunday, following a 30-day extension agreed to forward of Halloween.
All indicators level to a deal not being accomplished by Sunday. What, then, will occur with negotiations between the league and WNBA Gamers Affiliation (WNBPA)? And beneath what circumstances would a piece stoppage probably happen?
ESPN has all the pieces you want to know in regards to the CBA negotiations and what would possibly occur from right here.
Nov. 28 updates
What occurs if there is not any deal on the finish of the 30 days?
The 2 sides may agree to a different extension, as they did on the finish of October, aiming for continued negotiations to deliver them nearer to finalizing a brand new deal.
However even when there is no such thing as a extension and the present deal expires, a piece stoppage wouldn’t robotically occur and as an alternative a part known as “establishment” would comply with. That interval would preserve the working circumstances of the present CBA and, even with out a new settlement in place, the league and union may proceed negotiating.
If there is not an extension, although, it could open the door for a possible work stoppage: both a strike initiated by the gamers or a lockout initiated by the homeowners.
Is there a draw back to a different extension?
One other extension is a logical transfer for each side to proceed negotiating in good religion and get nearer to finalizing a deal. For a body of reference, this present CBA wasn’t ratified till January 2020 after months of bargaining by way of 2019. So, working past the preliminary deadline will not be unprecedented.
Extended labor uncertainty has actual enterprise implications. However one other concern is that the WNBA and gamers are working with a novel time crunch this yr.
The league nonetheless wants to carry a two-team enlargement draft for the Portland Hearth and Toronto Tempo, which might solely occur after a brand new CBA is accomplished. Then in an unprecedented offseason, all however two of the league’s veterans will hit free company in a time that some predict will likely be akin to the “Wild, Wild, West.” (Many gamers signed one-year offers after the gamers opted out of the present CBA in October 2024.)
Final yr the Golden State Valkyries enlargement draft was held in early December. Free company normally happens in January with gamers in a position to signal contracts beginning Feb. 1. The longer everybody goes with out a deal, the longer these essential elements of the league’s offseason will stay on maintain, and the probability of all the pieces needing to occur in a condensed time-frame will increase.
What do we all know of how far aside each side would possibly nonetheless be?
Information leaked final week of a WNBA proposal that included important wage raises in addition to a income sharing part, in all providing gamers on the most greater than $1.1 million and on the minimal greater than $220,000.
However sources advised ESPN that the WNBPA didn’t see this proposal as shifting issues ahead, a sentiment many gamers echoed when surveyed by ESPN.
The primary concern from the gamers’ aspect is that they didn’t really feel the proposal featured a system the place the wage cap, and thus participant salaries, sufficiently develop with the enterprise — equivalent to within the NBA, the place the wage cap is instantly decided by basketball-related earnings (BRI).
Gamers not need a wage cap that, of their view, is chosen arbitrarily ($1,507,100 in 2025) and grows at a hard and fast fee (3% annually beneath the present CBA). The present settlement additionally has a separate income sharing provision that grants direct funds to gamers if the league hits sure income targets (this has but to occur, largely because of the affect of the COVID-19 pandemic).
If each side are nonetheless as far aside because the gamers and the gamers union have indicated, reaching a deal within the close to future would possibly nonetheless show elusive.
Nov. 26 updates
What did the WNBPA consider the WNBA’s latest proposal?
Information broke final week that the WNBA had proposed a deal together with a income sharing part that, together with a base wage, would enable gamers to earn a most wage of greater than $1.1 million, on common greater than $460,000 and a minimal of greater than $220,000.
However the WNBPA didn’t see that proposal as one thing that moved negotiations ahead, sources advised ESPN on Thursday.
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ESPN canvassed gamers throughout the league for his or her ideas on the league’s proposal and a typical theme emerged: that there was work to nonetheless be finished in securing the income share system the gamers have been advocating for. A lot in order that one participant known as the league’s proposal a “slap within the face,” and one other described it as “irritating.”
In 2025, the league’s minimal wage was $66,079 and its supermax was $249,244, so the proposal did embody important wage will increase. However sources advised ESPN that the union doesn’t see the league’s proposal as together with a system wherein the wage cap and participant salaries sufficiently develop with the enterprise, a longstanding demand of the gamers since they opted out of the present CBA in October 2024.
Within the present CBA, the wage cap elevated yearly by a hard and fast fee (3%), coming in at $1,507,100 in 2025, and a separate income sharing provision known as for direct funds to gamers if the league hit sure income targets. Largely because of the COVID-19-impacted seasons of 2020 and 2021, that part was not triggered over the course of the settlement.
As a substitute of a hard and fast wage cap, the gamers as an alternative need a wage system primarily based extra instantly on income, equivalent to within the NBA, wherein the wage cap is set by basketball-related earnings (BRI).
The league beforehand stated in an announcement it has proposed “important assured wage cap will increase and substantial uncapped income sharing that permits participant salaries to develop because the league’s enterprise grows.” The union responded in an announcement that stated the proposal “put lipstick on a pig and retread a system that is not tied to any a part of the enterprise and deliberately undervalues the gamers.”
What is the most recent on the place negotiations stand? What occurs if there is not a deal reached by Sunday?
The league and union have despatched up to date proposals backwards and forwards since final week. Even with the Thanksgiving vacation approaching, they’re planning to satisfy all through the week and into the weekend forward of Sunday’s deadline.
The league and WNBPA may agree to a different extension on the deadline; even when that does not occur, a piece stoppage wouldn’t robotically comply with. They may proceed bargaining beneath a part known as “establishment,” wherein the working circumstances of the present CBA would stay in place. However a scarcity of an extension may open the door for a strike (initiated by gamers) or lockout (initiated by homeowners).
What’s the most recent on the enlargement draft?
Because the CBA deadline continues to be pushed again, so does the enlargement draft for the Portland Hearth and Toronto Tempo, who will each be taking part in their inaugural seasons in 2026.
The enlargement draft could be among the many first order of enterprise as soon as a brand new CBA is put in place, and a league supply advised ESPN each groups are attempting to organize for it. However they’re “working with extra questions than solutions.”
Final yr, the Golden State Valkyries had been advised the format of their enlargement draft one month earlier than the Dec. 6 draft evening. Golden State was knowledgeable of the listing of protected gamers from the opposite preexisting groups 11 days earlier than the draft. Because it stands, Portland and Toronto have “nothing.”
A coin flip will ultimately be held with the winner selecting whether or not they choose No. 6 within the school draft and No. 2 within the enlargement draft, or No. 7 within the school draft and No. 1 within the enlargement draft — however a date has not but been set for when that can happen.
The uncertainty has hindered the Hearth’s and Tempo’s capability to strategize as a lot as they’d like at this level within the offseason, the supply stated.
Although nothing is ready in stone, they anticipate the WNBA to mannequin this enlargement draft equally, if not the identical as, the 2000 enlargement draft, the final time there was a multiteam enlargement.
In that yr’s draft, preexisting groups had been allowed to guard 5 gamers on their present roster. The league supply advised ESPN that’s in all probability what is going to occur once more for the Hearth and Tempo. Final yr, groups had been allowed to guard six gamers from the Valkyries.
Sources stated the expectation is for Toronto and Portland to be allowed to pick out just one free agent every, however that hasn’t been confirmed. The league supply stated about 85% of present gamers are free brokers this winter, which makes it difficult for the enlargement groups to resolve who they wish to choose. In the event that they take a participant from a group that’s getting into free company, that participant can nonetheless depart the enlargement franchise and signal elsewhere as a free agent later.
WNBA free company sometimes begins Jan. 11, with contracts in a position to be signed beginning Feb. 1, and the season yearly tipping off in Might. However as negotiations linger, the supply stated that they’re making ready for an expedited calendar. And in a single excessive situation, the supply stated they’re even prepping for the enlargement draft, free company and school draft to all be held between March and the start of April.
Nov. 19 replace
What priorities are high of thoughts on the bargaining desk?
The dialog over wage construction and income share has lengthy been the centerpiece of this CBA negotiation. Whereas significant wage will increase are anticipated for the gamers as they capitalize off an infusion of capital and funding within the sport, each side have not seen eye to eye on what these programs ought to appear to be.
These had been amongst a number of priorities the gamers emphasised after they opted out of the present CBA in October 2024. The most important points additionally embody establishing minimal skilled requirements in services and codifying the league’s constitution journey program that was launched at first of the 2024 season.
The league has stated it needs to considerably improve participant salaries and different price commitments, whereas additionally incentivizing homeowners to proceed to put money into working the enterprise. The WNBA’s large progress lately gives a possibility for the enterprise to go from working at losses to constructing sustained profitability.
Increasing retirement and being pregnant/household planning advantages have additionally been on the forefront for gamers. After 40-plus gamers met with the league forward of All-Star Weekend in late July, Breanna Stewart, a vp with the WNBPA, stated these matters had been the one two bullet factors each side had agreed on at the moment.
Prioritization, a algorithm that requires WNBA gamers competing in different leagues to point out up in time for WNBA coaching camp or else be suspended for the season, grew to become a controversial subject after it was launched within the final CBA. However it’s unlikely homeowners would wish to loosen these guidelines, particularly amid anticipated WNBA wage will increase. A supply advised ESPN that the subject has not largely figured into negotiations to date and that it isn’t thought-about a significant level of rivalry.
Gamers have additionally expressed a need to weaken or abolish completely the “core” system, akin to the NFL’s franchise tag, which was already largely decreased previously CBA. However the league is unlikely to wish to give that up completely because it gives groups the chance to develop and retain drafted expertise, which might create a leveling aggressive impact.
The league’s laborious cap and 12-player roster limits (many franchises carry solely 11 gamers) have usually pissed off group personnel. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has beforehand stated that the league prefers enlargement as a option to develop its measurement fairly than including roster spots, whereas the league prefers to not soften the cap, a supply stated, because it believes some groups considerably outspending others would create an unlevel subject of competitors.
One other subject to be sorted is the variety of video games and scheduling shifting ahead; there have been a most of 44 video games allowed beneath the present CBA, and whereas the league cannot all the time preserve the identical actual footprint as a result of worldwide competitions, Engelbert has stated the league want to attempt to follow Might by way of October, with some overlap into November as wanted in a yr like 2026, when the WNBA will break for the FIBA World Cup.
Do leagues equivalent to Unequalled or Challenge B affect negotiations?
WNBA gamers have competed in different leagues — traditionally, internationally — because the league’s inception. However the home panorama modified dramatically this previous yr when Unequalled — a 3-on-3 league based by Stewart and Napheesa Collier — launched its inaugural season, which ran from January to March.
Unequalled has characterised itself instead for gamers who wish to complement their incomes with out going abroad throughout the WNBA offseason, and league personnel have stated Unequalled is not meant to be a competitor to the WNBA. Nonetheless, some gamers have indicated they hope Unequalled, with its excessive salaries and spectacular participant facilities, can apply stress to the WNBA throughout this present spherical of CBA negotiations.
Unequalled provided gamers fairness final yr and shifting ahead goals to supply a mean wage of $200,000, what the league claims is the very best common wage in girls’s skilled group sports activities.
Over the previous few weeks, a brand new league known as Challenge B has introduced its intention to debut in November 2026 and run by way of April 2027, with WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike, Alyssa Thomas, Jonquel Jones and Jewell Loyd amongst its first public signees. The league’s mannequin options 66 gamers taking part in on a global circuit throughout Europe and Asia, much like a Method 1 format.
Along with having participant fairness, their salaries are reported to succeed in seven figures, above what’s provided by each the WNBA and Unequalled (the latter’s schedule instantly conflicts with Challenge B’s schedule). Like Unequalled, Challenge B says it isn’t a competitor league to the WNBA.
Whereas prioritization guidelines guarantee WNBA gamers arrive on time to coaching camp, the league has no plans of asking for exclusivity — that its gamers solely play within the WNBA and nowhere else within the offseason — throughout this spherical of negotiations, a supply stated.
Will WNBA draft eligibility change on this CBA?
The beginning of the school season has evoked a well-recognized query for basketball followers: Ought to the WNBA change its draft eligibility guidelines? In contrast to the one-and-done rule within the NBA, gamers have to be 22 years outdated within the calendar yr of the WNBA draft to be eligible (except they’ve graduated early). Worldwide gamers want to show 20 throughout the calendar yr of the draft to be eligible.
A supply advised ESPN that draft eligibility hasn’t been a significant subject of dialogue in negotiations so far.
Is there any information concerning the enlargement draft?
As we have beforehand addressed, holding the WNBA enlargement draft for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Hearth is without doubt one of the first issues that will likely be finished as soon as a brand new CBA is in place. The parameters for the enlargement draft are speculated to be set within the new CBA, so groups have not been given any guidelines or pointers.
However the expectation is {that a} coin flip will decide which of the 2 newcomers will choose first within the school and enlargement drafts (i.e. whichever group goes first within the enlargement draft will choose seventh within the school draft, and whoever goes second within the enlargement draft will choose sixth within the school draft; the No. 6 choose is the primary choice following the lottery picks).
The enlargement draft for the Golden State Valkyries was held Dec. 6 with the league’s 12 groups allowed to guard six gamers. Golden State chosen 11 gamers, taking one from each group besides Seattle.
Since this enlargement draft could have two groups constructing rosters, it is thought that maybe the league’s different groups would possibly solely be capable of shield 5 gamers this time.
The place do negotiations stand forward of the Nov. 30 deadline? Adam Hagy/NBAE by way of Getty ImagesOct. 30 replace
What is the largest problem preserving the edges aside?
In public feedback, gamers have implied that the 2 sides are successfully talking totally different languages on the bargaining desk, with the most important sticking level being what a wage system and income sharing ought to appear to be.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver stated on the “As we speak” present in October that WNBA gamers can anticipate a “massive improve” of their salaries. However the gamers are searching for a wage system that grows with the enterprise (equivalent to within the NBA, which makes use of basketball-related earnings to find out its wage cap) over a fixed-rate mannequin within the present CBA, the place the wage cap raises yearly by 3%. The league’s wage cap was $1,507,100 in 2025, with a minimal wage of $66,079 and a supermax of $249,244.
The present CBA additionally has a income sharing provision that may lead to direct funds to gamers if the league hits sure income targets, nevertheless it hasn’t but been triggered.
Silver stated on the “As we speak” present that share “is not the proper method to take a look at it as a result of there’s a lot extra income within the NBA,” suggesting that expense would possibly nonetheless devour a really significant slice of the income pie in comparison with different sports activities leagues.
The WNBPA stated in October that the league has “put lipstick on a pig and retread a system that is not tied to any a part of the enterprise and deliberately undervalues the gamers.”
The league, on its half, has insisted it has provided an “uncapped income sharing mannequin that’s instantly tied to the league’s efficiency.” And it has continued to keep up that it needs to, as WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert put it throughout the WNBA Finals, “stability the numerous improve in salaries and advantages with the long-term viability of the league” and that to date “the Gamers Affiliation has but to supply a viable financial proposal.”
What occurs if there is not any deal on the finish of the 30 days?
One other extension is all the time potential, though the WNBA has so much to suit into this offseason. And even when the deal expires, a piece stoppage wouldn’t robotically comply with.
There would not technically should be an extension for each side to proceed bargaining — as an alternative they’d enter a part known as “establishment” wherein the working circumstances of the present CBA would stay in place.
The issue: If there is not an extension, it could open the door for a possible work stoppage, both a strike initiated by the gamers or a lockout initiated by the homeowners. To this point, that is not an amazing concern. Even earlier than the extension was agreed to on Oct. 30, sources leaguewide stated they didn’t consider a piece stoppage was imminent.
What about this condensed offseason schedule? What must occur earlier than the subsequent season can begin?
Quite a bit, beginning with an enlargement draft for the Portland Hearth and Toronto Tempo. As soon as that is concluded, free company provides unprecedented uncertainty with almost half of the league’s gamers unrestricted.
The state of affairs could be very totally different from the CBA negotiations that dragged nicely into the spring of 2003. That CBA launched free company for the primary time, and just for a restricted variety of gamers, that means the league may go from preliminary settlement with gamers on a deal April 18 to coaching camp beginning two weeks afterward Might 1 — with each the WNBA draft and a dispersal draft in between.
We did see the NBA go from a preliminary settlement to finish its 2011 lockout on Nov. 26 to coaching camps starting Dec. 9, lower than two weeks later, however the league was in a position to maintain free company on the similar time. That is not practical given the scope of WNBA free company, and the brand new CBA may overhaul the wage cap within the WNBA extra dramatically than we have seen from one NBA deal to the subsequent.
Consequently, about three weeks is the quickest the WNBA may realistically hope to go from settlement on a deal to holding practices. Ideally, in fact, the league needs progress towards an settlement by early January to keep away from delaying the standard offseason schedule too considerably. That is particularly vital for the Hearth and Tempo, who may stand to advertise their inaugural season by having precise gamers on their roster.
Oct. 22 replace
How does bargaining work logistically?
When the league and WNBPA maintain bargaining classes, there might be an array of stakeholders within the room, and it isn’t all the time the identical individuals every assembly, sources conversant in the negotiations stated. WNBA and NBA employees, in addition to their outdoors counsel, signify the league’s aspect of the aisle, with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert attending all substantive bargaining conferences, per earlier negotiations in 2019 and with the actions of former league presidents. WNBPA employees and outdoors counsel are the principle contributors for the union aspect, although WNBPA advisors and participant management may also attend.
The gamers’ CBA committee sometimes options a minimum of 33 gamers: the 26 participant representatives (two per group), seven members of the chief committee (Nneka Ogwumike, Kelsey Plum, Elizabeth Williams, Brianna Turner, Alysha Clark, Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart) and some different gamers outdoors of these teams who’ve opted to take part.
The league has its personal model of that group, the labor relations committee, that includes seven group homeowners and executives: Suzanne Abair of the Atlanta Dream, Greg Bibb of the Dallas Wings, Ginny Gilder of the Seattle Storm, Kelly Krauskopf of the Indiana Fever, Mat Ishbia of the Phoenix Mercury, Nadia Rawlinson of the Chicago Sky and Jennifer Rizzotti of the Connecticut Solar. That committee doesn’t take part in bargaining classes.
The league and WNBPA first met in December 2024 for a preliminary dialog on the brand new CBA and held a bigger in-person assembly that includes representatives from the labor relations committee plus over 40 gamers at All-Star weekend in late July. Since then, the WNBPA has met with participant management “weekly, if not a pair instances every week,” in line with a supply, and the 2 sides have continued to speak with regularity, although the contributors and scope have fluctuated.