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While a December Team USA women’s basketball camp isn’t the most exciting part of the basketball calendar, there was plenty of piqued interest in this week’s gathering at Duke. For one, it was Caitlin Clark’s return to the court after she was injured in July of this year, missing two-thirds of the WNBA season and not returning to play after the All-Star Break. Plus, with the ongoing Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations, anytime the media gets to speak with WNBA players is a good time to gauge how talks are going.
It’s not surprising that much of the questioning in the first days of the camp revolved around Clark — her recovery since the WNBA season ended, updates on her health, and her offseason plans. In reporting from ESPN’s Alexa Philippou, Clark told the media this week that she is “100% healthy” and just working to get her conditioning back now. She was a little nervous about camp, just because she hadn’t had the chance to participate in a full-contact practice in a while.
Clark’s 2025 WNBA season was riddled with injuries, starting in the preseason with a quad strain. A few weeks into the season, she sat out for just under three weeks with another quad strain, and just days before she was set to lead the All-Star Team in her Fever’s home state of Indiana, she strained her groin. These lingering injuries, mixed with another setback she suffered during recovery in August, kept her out for the season, an unlucky turn of events for the 2024 Rookie of the Year.
Now back on the court, she is focusing on soaking up knowledge and practice time at Team USA camp, likely helping the team try to qualify for the 2026 World Cup at qualifier tournaments later in the winter. Yet, it was inevitable that she was going to get some questions about the state of CBA negotiations.
Per Philippou’s reporting, many of the players at camp were asked about CBA talks, potential work stoppages, and the like. WNBPA Vice President Kelsey Plum said that it was “a little bit disheartening, just the frustration in the negotiation and how far away we are” in getting to a deal. Chicago Sky star Angel Reese had a similar tone to her remarks, saying, “I think the players and WNBPA have done a great job making sure we’re all together. We’re riding together on everything. I’m preparing for a season like everybody else is, but we have to come to a negotiation. It’s really important for us to come to a common ground that we can all agree on, it’s all fair, and everybody benefits from it.”
Clark’s remarks about negotiations were a little different in tone. She didn’t say anything bad or anti-union, of course, but focused more on compromise between the two sides.
“It’s business, and it’s a negotiation, and there has to be compromise on both sides. And we’re starting to get down to the wire of it.” Clark said to reporters, adding, “You want to understand both sides and be respectful of both sides, but at the end of the day, come to a compromise.”
She also made a heavy emphasis on the “need” to play a season next summer. “That’s what our fans crave — the product on the floor, that’s what the fans want to show up for,” adding that it’s “important that we find a way to play this next season.”
Many other WNBA players have been vocal about the fact that they are not afraid to take these negotiations to a work stoppage if needed. With a new expiration date of Jan. 9, the sides have until then to either come to terms on a new deal, extend the deadline again, or decide they are done negotiating and move into a work stoppage. The sides can also cancel this current negotiation with 48 hours’ notice, and a work stoppage can only be enacted if they are not under an extension of the contract.
There are a ton of things that the WNBA players have said they won’t budge on, including a solid revenue-sharing program that meets the needs of a growing league and a proper salary increase. Other things that matter a lot to players are ending the league’s prioritization rules, getting rid of team-exclusive negotiation rights (aka the “core” designation), and expanding the amount of guaranteed contracts in the league.
Clark’s comments aren’t wrong — it would be a huge disappointment for the momentum the league is seeing to not play next season. Plus, with two expansion teams coming in, the league is actively growing and even expanding internationally with the Toronto Tempo joining. While at first glance they definitely feel a little bit different in tone from the overall message of the players — not letting up on the things they want, not being afraid to strike, etc — it’s not like she fully said she doesn’t care about the contract as long as she plays.
She is also known for trying to keep the comments she says 100% focused on basketball, which is fair. She is the center of a lot of false narratives and bad-faith arguments among fans, despite never actually starting these arguments or getting involved herself. The media loves to analyze her every move, her every word — I mean, we are doing it right now — and spin it. It’s smart for her to keep the focus of whatever she says on the record on basketball, since everything she says gets treated like gasoline on the fire of whatever narrative the media and/or fans want to spin. That ultimately means she probably isn’t going to be outspoken about a lot of other things going on in the world.
Based on other players’ comments, it does seem like the CBA negotiations possibly won’t be completed by the Jan. 9 deadline. After not playing much in 2025 because of her injuries, and now this impending CBA deadline continuing to loom over the league, Clark fans may be without their star on the court for a while. Clark does not play in offseason leagues like Unrivaled or Athletes Unlimited or even in Europe or overseas currently, and has been vocal that she doesn’t plan to join any — including Project B. While some upcoming Team USA action may allow fans to get a glimpse of her on the court, that may be it for the foreseeable future.
