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Last Updated:December 02, 2025, 09:49 IST
WNBA unveiled a new CBA proposal with a $1 million base salary and major salary cap increases, but players seek lasting revenue sharing and true partnership.
WNBA’s Napheesa Collier (X)
The WNBA is in the middle of its biggest growth spurt ever, and you can feel the tension crackling through its labour negotiations.
The league just dropped a new CBA proposal that sounds huge on paper — a $1 million base salary for max players starting in 2026, with total earnings potentially topping $1.2 million once revenue-sharing kicks in.
That’s a massive jump from where things were even a year ago. Add a team salary cap that would leap from $1.5 million to $5 million in a single offseason, plus minimum salaries climbing to $225,000, and you’d think everyone would be high-fiving in the room.
But they’re not.
Because the players aren’t just asking for bigger numbers — they’re asking for a new system.
The WNBPA already rejected an earlier version of this proposal two weeks ago, and instead of racing to sign this upgraded offer, they and the league agreed to push the opt-out deadline another six weeks to January 9, 2026. That’s the second extension since the end of the 2025 season.
And the tension at the top? It’s real.
Players have openly called out commissioner Cathy Engelbert for being “distant” and “non-collaborative,” and when NBA commissioner Adam Silver casually brushed off the idea of sharing revenue with the players, it didn’t go unnoticed.
To the athletes, it sounded like the people in charge of the chequebook aren’t ready to treat them as true partners — even as the league posts record numbers across viewership, sponsorship, merchandise sales, and cultural influence.
From the players’ perspective, they’re the ones driving the WNBA’s breakthrough moment. They’re the ones packing arenas, lighting up social media, and turning regular-season games into must-watch events. So why should the league’s financial model stay stuck in the past?
The players want guaranteed revenue sharing, not one-time boosts. They want a structure that rises with the league they’re helping build — not a system that expects them to be grateful for whatever owners decide to offer.
So yes, the latest proposal is a big deal. But for the players, this isn’t just about a bigger paycheck. It’s about finally aligning the business with the reality: the WNBA is booming, and the people powering that boom want — and deserve — a fair piece of it.
(with Reuters inputs)
About the Author
After training in the field of broadcast media, Siddarth, as a sub-editor for News18 Sports, currently dabbles in putting together stories, from across a plethora of sports, onto a digital canvas. His…Read More
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