play1:00Collier: People are seeing that changes need to be madeNapheesa Collier said that while “nothing has changed” at the league level, she remains confident in the future as the WNBA and players’ union continue to work through ongoing CBA negotiations.
How likely is it that WNBA players go on strike? (2:53)Kendra Andrews and Chiney Ogwumike react to news that the WNBPA executive committee has been authorized to call a strike “when necessary.” (2:53)
Collier: People are seeing that changes need to be madeNapheesa Collier said that while “nothing has changed” at the league level, she remains confident in the future as the WNBA and players’ union continue to work through ongoing CBA negotiations.
Napheesa Collier said that while “nothing has changed” at the league level, she remains confident in the future as the WNBA and players’ union continue to work through ongoing CBA negotiations.
It had been a few quiet weeks since the WNBA and Women’s National Basketball Players Association agreed to extend negotiations for the collective bargaining agreement. But on Thursday, the union made a splash when it announced its players have authorized the WNBPA executive committee to “call a strike when necessary” amid ongoing negotiations.
Jump to: Why housing is an issue Salary and rev sharing explained Expansion draft Unrivaled/Project B
Thursday’s announcement made clear that this is not an immediate call for a strike, nor should it be seen as an intention to pursue one. But that decision will now be in the hands of the seven players who make up the WNBPA executive committee: Nneka Ogwumike, Kelsey Plum, Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart, Alysha Clark, Elizabeth Williams and Brianna Turner.
The union said 93% of the players participated in the voting, with 98% voting yes, marking an “emphatic affirmation of the players’ confidence in their leadership and their unwavering solidarity against ongoing efforts to divide, conquer, and undervalue them.”
The league has proposed significant salary increases — including a $1 million base salary for the highest-paid players — and a new compensation model. It also proposed that teams would no longer provide housing for players.
Yet with disputes lingering over what a new revenue sharing model should look like, there have been few signs that the players feel like meaningful progress has been made in negotiations — Collier and Stewart echoed as much this week at media day for their 3-on-3 league Unrivaled. Perhaps the union sees Thursday’s move as a way to apply pressure on the league with the threat of a strike.
But if the players continue to believe that the league is embodying “a resistance to change and a recommitment to the draconian provisions that have unfairly restricted players for nearly three decades” as the Jan. 9 deadline approaches, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the executive committee consider to move forward with voting on a strike.
But even before we get to Jan. 9, the CBA extensions have included a provision giving either side the ability to terminate the agreement with 48 hours’ notice, at which point a work stoppage — either a strike initiated by the players or a lockout initiated by the owners — could be pursued.
Collier: People are seeing that changes need to be made
Teams can spend more than the stipend limit to secure housing for players, provided it is not excessive and that the housing aligns with what is allowed in the CBA. In other words, no penthouses.
Any player wishing to upgrade accommodations within the team housing facility can pay the team the difference in cost.
During the offseason, players who are rehabbing an injury sustained during the prior season or who are paid to market the team during the offseason — known as team marketing agreements — can continue to live in team-provided housing.
Multiple sources told ESPN that the majority of players utilize team housing rather than choose the stipend. Many players, though not all, live away from their team markets in the offseason, or play overseas.
WNBA teams have been required to provide housing for players from the regular season through the playoffs, in addition to training camp accommodations, since the first CBA, which was ratified in 1999.
The expectation is that there will still be ways for teams to assist players in certain circumstances — such as if they’re on training camp or seven-day contracts or traded midseason — in securing accommodations.
According to a source familiar with the negotiations, the players have proposed including the cost of team housing in player benefits that would be deducted from the player share of revenue.
“This makes no sense for our younger players, for the players that get cut and are stuck in leases … nor for players in bigger markets,” New York Liberty guard Natasha Cloud said in an Instagram comment.
The flip side is that owners of franchises, say New York and Golden State, could put themselves at a competitive disadvantage if players are unwilling to play in high-cost cities.
Alternatively, the league could explore not prohibiting team-provided housing, but simply not requiring it. That would potentially become a competitive advantage, too, akin to the leaguewide race in recent years for franchises to build multimillion-dollar practice facilities, for teams that are more willing and able to pour money into providing housing accommodations.
The WNBA and WNBA Players Association have agreed to extend the current collective bargaining agreement through Jan. 9, 2026.
Multiple extensions are not unprecedented. That’s what happened in the last round of CBA negotiations five years ago. That deal was initially set to expire in October 2019 before the current one was ultimately ratified in January 2020.
A new deal could of course get done sooner than Jan. 9. But as of now, it appears guaranteed that the two-team expansion draft for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire will happen later than ideally scheduled. Last year, the Golden State Valkyries selected their inaugural players on Dec. 6. The rules for the upcoming expansion draft will be determined by the CBA, so a new deal must be done first.
With teams typically delivering qualifying offers and core player designations starting Jan. 11, WNBA free agency more than likely will be impacted, too. And with all but two of the league’s veterans hitting free agency this year, it won’t be feasible to completely consolidate that part of the offseason.
The college draft is currently scheduled for April 13, 2026, shortly after which training camps usually begin, with games starting in May.
So while the basketball calendar might have some flexibility, there is still a lot to be sorted out leaguewide this offseason. And continued labor uncertainty might have escalating business implications if fans and corporate partners start to fear there won’t be a 2026 season.
The two sides could agree to another extension, as they did at the end of October, aiming for continued negotiations to bring them closer to finalizing a new deal.
But even if there is no extension and the current deal expires, a work stoppage would not automatically happen and instead a phase called “status quo” would follow. That period would maintain the working conditions of the current CBA and, even without a new agreement in place, the league and union could continue negotiating.
If there isn’t an extension, though, it would open the door for a potential work stoppage: either a strike initiated by the players or a lockout initiated by the owners.
Another extension is a logical move for both sides to continue negotiating in good faith and get closer to finalizing a deal. For a frame of reference, this current CBA wasn’t ratified until January 2020 after months of bargaining through 2019. So, working beyond the initial deadline is not unprecedented.
Prolonged labor uncertainty has real business implications. But another concern is that the WNBA and players are working with a unique time crunch this year.
The league still needs to hold a two-team expansion draft for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo, which can only happen after a new CBA is completed. Then in an unprecedented offseason, all but two of the league’s veterans will hit free agency in a time that some predict will be akin to the “Wild, Wild, West.” (Many players signed one-year deals after the players opted out of the current CBA in October 2024.)
Last year the Golden State Valkyries expansion draft was held in early December. Free agency usually occurs in January with players able to sign contracts starting Feb. 1. The longer everyone goes without a deal, the longer these crucial parts of the league’s offseason will remain on hold, and the likelihood of everything needing to happen in a condensed time frame increases.
News leaked last week of a WNBA proposal that included significant salary raises as well as a revenue sharing component, in all offering players at the maximum more than $1.1 million and at the minimum more than $220,000.
But sources told ESPN that the WNBPA did not see this proposal as moving things forward, a sentiment many players echoed when surveyed by ESPN.
The main concern from the players’ side is that they did not feel the proposal featured a system where the salary cap, and thus player salaries, sufficiently grow with the business — such as in the NBA, where the salary cap is directly determined by basketball-related income (BRI).
Players no longer want a salary cap that, in their view, is chosen arbitrarily ($1,507,100 in 2025) and grows at a fixed rate (3% each year under the current CBA). The current agreement also has a separate revenue sharing provision that grants direct payments to players if the league hits certain revenue targets (this has yet to happen, largely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic).
If both sides are still as far apart as the players and the players union have indicated, reaching a deal in the near future might still prove elusive.
News broke last week that the WNBA had proposed a deal including a revenue sharing component that, in combination with a base salary, would allow players to earn a maximum salary of more than $1.1 million, on average more than $460,000 and a minimum of more than $220,000.