Stephen A.’s message to the WNBA: ‘Get a deal done!’ (2:07)Stephen A. Smith sides with the players as the WNBA and its players’ union remain at odds over a new CBA. (2:07)
Alexa PhilippouMar 12, 2026, 03:09 AM ETCloseCovers women’s college basketball and the WNBA Previously covered UConn and the WNBA Connecticut Sun for the Hartford Courant Stanford graduate and Baltimore native with further experience at the Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times and Cincinnati EnquirerFollow on XMultiple Authors
NEW YORK — Following back-to-back days of prolonged negotiations between the WNBA and its players’ union, WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike told reporters late Wednesday that the players are “feeling movement” in collective bargaining talks and are “committed to being at the table.”
The two sides remain without a new deal, now going on two days past the target date the league gave the union for when a term sheet should be completed to avoid scheduling impacts for the 2026 season.
“At the end of the day, we want a season,” Ogwumike told reporters. “We want to play. We’ve heard that from the other side as well. We need to see a more robust demonstration of that as we continue on in these negotiations.”
According to a source familiar with the negotiations, the league’s latest proposal featured a salary cap starting at $6.2 million (up from a previously reported number of $5.75 million and $1.5 million in 2025), and that will continue to grow over the life of the deal. The average player compensation is projected to reach $570,000 in Year 1 and $850,000 in Year 6, while the maximum compensation would come in at over $1.3 million in Year 1 and nearly $2 million in Year 6.
“Our proposal on the table is a really historic and transformational deal for these players,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert told reporters early Thursday. “We’re proud of the deal we have on the table. I think it’s huge gains for the players, while balancing that with the health of the league. So we’ll just continue to work really hard, and we’ve got to get a deal done.”
Added Connecticut Sun team president and labor relations committee member Jennifer Rizzotti: “As a former player, I don’t know that I ever thought I would see the day that such a transformational deal would be offered and on the table for these players, and I’m proud of that.”
“Being able to be in the room, being able to exchange proposals, we’re feeling movement,” Ogwumike said. “We’re sticking to the process. That’s something that we’ve always been true to from the very beginning, so making sure that we stick to that process and the strength in our unity and obviously remaining resolute in what we’re representing ourselves for in these negotiations is kind of where we’re at now.”
Ogwumike and the three executive committee members who are attending the in-person meetings — vice presidents Breanna Stewart and Alysha Clark, as well as treasurer Brianna Turner — spoke with reporters shortly before 11:30 p.m. ET before leaving for the night. The league and union staffs stayed to continue negotiations, and they plan to continue bargaining Thursday.
The union has maintained it considers the March 10 deadline provided by the league as a negotiation tactic, while the league has pointed to the potential business and scheduling ramifications if negotiations are prolonged much longer.
“We haven’t ever really considered that as a timeline that has been something to prioritize on our side because we have always been negotiating in good faith,” Ogwumike said. “We’ve experienced lulls, shall I say, in the negotiation [from the other side] and we want to play, and that’s why we all flew out here.
Once a deal is done, it must be ratified — which could take several weeks — and then the league must hold a two-team expansion draft, free agency for more than 100 players and a college draft, currently scheduled for April 13.
“I think time is of the essence to get this deal done,” Rizzotti said, “and that’s what we’re working for.”
Stephen A.’s message to the WNBA: ‘Get a deal done!’ (2:07)Stephen A. Smith sides with the players as the WNBA and its players’ union remain at odds over a new CBA. (2:07)
Stephen A. Smith sides with the players as the WNBA and its players’ union remain at odds over a new CBA. (2:07)
Training camps would begin April 19, and the first regular-season game is scheduled for May 8.
Alexa PhilippouMar 12, 2026, 03:09 AM ETCloseCovers women’s college basketball and the WNBA Previously covered UConn and the WNBA Connecticut Sun for the Hartford Courant Stanford graduate and Baltimore native with further experience at the Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times and Cincinnati EnquirerFollow on XMultiple Authors
CloseCovers women’s college basketball and the WNBA Previously covered UConn and the WNBA Connecticut Sun for the Hartford Courant Stanford graduate and Baltimore native with further experience at the Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times and Cincinnati EnquirerFollow on X