Collier: People are seeing that changes need to be made (1:00)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. (1:00)
Breanna Stewart, a vice president of the WNBA Players Association, said Thursday that the league and players union will not agree to another collective bargaining agreement extension at Friday’s deadline, meaning both parties would instead enter a period of “status quo.”
The WNBA and WNBPA previously agreed to two extensions of the current deal: 30 days at the end of October and 40 days at the end of November. Neither side appears to be offering an extension ahead of the Jan. 9 deadline.
Jump to: How likely is a strike? Strike authorization Why housing is an issue Salary and rev sharing explained
For one, not a work stoppage — at least, not yet. Under the status quo, the working conditions of the current CBA would be maintained, and the league and union can continue negotiating. But because the CBA expired without a replacement, and the agreement prohibits either side from engaging in a work stoppage, status quo opens the door for a strike initiated by the players or a lockout instituted by the owners.
Sources told ESPN that the league has not been contemplating a lockout, but a strike has been considered for players. In mid-December, they voted to give the union’s seven-player executive committee the right to call a strike “when necessary.”
Both sides continue to be far apart as they work toward a new deal, particularly on the issue of revenue sharing and what such a system should look like. A source told ESPN that the league has yet to respond to a recent proposal from the union because it wasn’t significantly different from the WNBPA’s previous offer.
The longer both sides go without a deal, the greater the likelihood that the league will need to conduct a condensed offseason, where a two-team expansion draft, free agency and the college draft all must occur within a few weeks or months. (Last offseason, by contrast, an expansion draft was held in early December, free agency took place from Jan. 11 to Feb. 1 and the college draft was April 14.)
Despite the uncertainty, league sources believe both sides will get a deal done and there will be a 2026 season. — Alexa Philippou
Revenue sharing and housing — the latter emerged as a flashpoint in early December, when a proposal from the league no longer included provided housing — remain the biggest priorities for WNBA players.
The league’s proposal to eliminate team-provided housing — which has been required since the league’s first CBA in 1999 — is one issue, Brittney Sykes said, that has led players to feel “disrespected” throughout negotiations.
“They are trying to take something away from us in our CBA that is something that benefits everyone across the board,” Sykes said. “They are trying to take away housing and cars … if you try to take something away, what is in place of it? You up the money, but just because you gave us $100,000 more doesn’t mean a housing complex is going to sublease for us, especially for four months.
“Is the contract guaranteed, where if a player gets traded, they still got to deal with the apartment?”
Some said that if the league reinstated team housing into the new CBA deal, there might be space for the union to give in on some other areas.
“They need to keep housing. That is a huge thing. They can’t get rid of that,” a player told ESPN. “But if they say OK, but then we’re going to extend the season — you need to play more games and it’s going to take more months of the year, I would be OK with that, as an example.”
Paige Bueckers added: “We’ve had those talks and we’ve sort of come up with an idea on just what we’re not willing to bargain and go back and forth with. Once we think the other side has showed a little bit of compromise in meeting us halfway on what we deserve, I think that’s when the negotiations are settled.” — Kendra Andrews
The sides remain far apart on several key issues, including what a revenue sharing system should look like, what should be considered revenue and how to account for expenses.
The projection, sources said, was determined based on previously audited league financial information.
The WNBA views gross revenue as an inaccurate reflection of the business as it doesn’t incorporate the expenses needed to operate teams and the league, while the WNBPA believes players who provide the labor and have no control over expenses shouldn’t essentially be paid last.
The league has previously said that in addition to substantially increasing salaries and other cost commitments, it wants to incentivize owners to continue to invest in operating the business. The WNBA’s tremendous growth in recent years provides an opportunity for the business to go from operating at losses to building sustained profitability.
WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike told ESPN in a Dec. 19 interview that the league’s revenue share model is “not adequate.” The WNBPA and its players have consistently stressed the importance of creating a new deal that “represents our value in a very meaningful way,” as Ogwumike said, in response to what the union has called “the draconian provisions that have unfairly restricted players for nearly three decades.”
According to a document obtained by ESPN that was shared with players, the WNBPA proposed a compensation system last month with a projected salary cap of approximately $12.5 million in 2026, over eight times the 2025 cap. That Nov. 28 proposal also included approximately a $1 million average player salary and maximum player salary of $2.5 million. Multiple sources familiar with the negotiations told ESPN that in recent weeks the union has proposed a lower salary cap closer to $10.5 million.
These altogether mark the first reported salary figures from the players’ side of the bargaining table. As previously reported, the league is proposing a $5 million salary cap in 2026 that in the years afterward would increase in line with revenue growth, and players would then receive separate revenue sharing payouts following each season. Still, there is clearly a long gap to bridge between the players’ $10.5 million proposed cap and the league’s offer.
In the aforementioned document obtained by ESPN, the league and the union were proposing maximum salaries that made up 20% of the salary cap. In the last deal, that number, known as the supermax, made up 16.5% of the cap.
One player eligible to receive one-fifth of the cap — and potentially two players accounting for 40% of it — could make for some interesting roster construction decisions. Front offices might bristle at the supermax comprising such a high proportion of the cap, fearing such a number would make it more difficult to build a complete team.
Sure, several teams became contenders by paying their stars well below the supermax ($249,244 in 2025) — four-time MVP A’ja Wilson, for example, made only $200,000 with the Aces last year. But would (or arguably should) stars still be willing to leave a sizable amount of money on the table, particularly if there are seven-figure salaries on the line? Or would income from other leagues, such as Unrivaled and Project B, make that notion more palatable?
The answer to those questions will have downstream effects on everyone else, and some industry insiders have concerns that these proposals could squeeze out the league’s middle class.
“We have been at an average of 16.5% of the salary cap as a supermax in the past few years, and that has still been a big problem,” one agent told ESPN. “Fifteen percent of the cap as a max salary doesn’t make it easy, but it makes it doable, especially if we can get the cap up a bit. Otherwise, you must have almost every max player ready to take a 10-30% salary cut, just to form a competitive team or get real lucky with the quality of your minimum salary players.
“I’m trusting that the PA and the elite players on the executive committee have actually taken out their calculators and are considering this, which is quite important to 75% of the league.” — Alexa Philippou
Caitlin Clark on CBA negotiations: This is biggest moment WNBA has ever seen
In an interview with ESPN last Friday, WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike described the vote as a “symbol of our unity and the confidence that we have in each other to be able to give ourselves some level of authority in these negotiations.” But she also deemed the move a way to “give ourselves as much leverage as possible to get a good deal done.”
A decision on whether to strike is now not in the hands of the 150-plus players but up to the seven-player WNBPA executive committee.
“This means we could possibly strike if we need to, but it doesn’t mean that we want that to happen,” Ogwumike told ESPN. “But we have it in our arsenal in order for us to get exactly what we need, which is a fair deal that represents our value in a very meaningful way.”
Ogwumike told ESPN that she sees Thursday’s vote as “an opportunity for [a strike] to be an option if negotiations don’t progress,” adding that she believes talks are still “a bit in their infancy.” The WNBA, meanwhile, has repeatedly said in statements that the league “strongly disagree[s] with the WNBPA’s characterization of the current state of negotiations.”
When asked what factors would prompt the executive committee to consider pursuing a strike, Ogwumike responded, “It’s kind of early to even say that, per se.
“That might be a question for something closer to Jan 9. I’m not entirely sure what factors, aside from what we’re looking to get in revenue sharing, could potentially lead us to make a decision on this strike authorization vote.”
The union declined to provide details on the voting procedures the executive committee would follow if voting on a strike.
The 2026 season isn’t expected to tip off until May, so the possibility of canceled games is still far off. But the players could opt to strike before then. The ramifications of a potential strike, or any work stoppage, in the offseason would include losing benefits and team housing for those who still remain in such accommodations.