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Are the WNBA and WNBPA trending toward agreeing to a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) before the league-imposed March 10 deadline?
There are at least some signs of progress that could be interpreted as encouraging.
Speaking before the Unrivaled semifinals in Brooklyn on Monday, WNBPA executive committee members Kelsey Plum and Breanna Stewart both shared comments about the state of negotiations that hinted at compromise, a notable departure from the contentiousness that had characterized player statements.
Plum, the WNBPA first vice president, said:
I want to play and players want to play. We’re going to continue to negotiate and do everything we can to get this done in a timely fashion. But obviously a strike would be the worst thing for both sides because we are in a revenue share, so no revenue, no revenue to share.
Breanna Stewart, a WNBPA vice president, added, “I agree with Plum. While we still are fighting for a lot of different things, we have to realize that the rev share is a win.”
The two players’ assessments are interesting considering the league has not budged on the percentage of revenue they’re willing to share with players. Throughout the trading of proposals, the league, at least based on reported knowledge of the proposals, has remained committed to a system that would see players receive less than 15 percent of total revenue.
The players, after originally asking for a 40 percent share of gross revenue, have reduced their ask to 26 percent in their most recent proposal, which was shared with the league last Friday.
The league’s latest counterproposal, shared with players on Sunday night, stuck to this estimated 15 percent, according to reporting from the AP, ESPN and Front Office Sports.
According to Annie Costabile at FOS, “Both sides have found alignment on a system for sharing revenue, but they differ on the percentage.”
The WNBA is now offering a fast-tracked max contract for young stars
However, the WNBA’s latest proposal did offer a new feature: a fast track to a maximum salary for young stars.
As explained by the AP’s Doug Feinberg:
The new offer…would allow players on rookie contracts who were first or second team all-league to become eligible to sign a maximum contract in their fourth year and would not be eligible for a franchise tag designation following that extension.
Currently, this provision would apply to the Dallas Wings’ Paige Bueckers and the Indiana Fever’s Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark.
To receive this accelerated max, young stars would have to re-sign with their current team, as clarified by The Ringer’s Seerat Sohi. Teams would be permitted to sign many players to rookie maxes, as well as standard maxes, as they choose, as no limit has been imposed.
Per Costabile, a player who wins MVP while on their rookie contract, as the Las Vegas Aces’ A’ja Wilson did in 2020, would become eligible for a supermax contract, which would be 20 percent of the salary cap, in their fourth year.
Although ostensibly a “win” for players, this provision projects to impact only a very limited number of players, evidenced by the fact that, from the last three draft classes, only three players, or one player per class, would currently be eligible.
The league also slightly increased their proposed salary cap from $5.65 million to $5.75 million. This boost, according to Sohi, “came from shifting—rather than adding—money from projected revenue sharing to guaranteed revenue sharing.” In their most recent proposal, players are still seeking a salary cap of $9.45 million in the first year of the new deal.
Both sides also have not settled on a housing policy.
In their last proposal, the WNBPA offered concessions, asking that team-provided housing be supplied for players making less than 75 percent of the maximum salary. The WNBA, while still agreeing to team-provided housing in the first year of the new CBA for all players, did not alter their housing policy, which would require teams to give housing support to developmental players, rookies and minimum-salary players.
The league and players also have yet to establish an eligibility limit for the two new developmental player roster spots. The league is looking to cap developmental players’ service time at five years, while players have targeted six years after first seeking a seven-year limit.
How committed are WNBA players to striking? Are some players ready to settle?
Early last week, a number of players reportedly participated in a tense virtual meeting, with reports then emerging that some players had reconsidered their previous position and no longer were in favor of a potential strike. Back in December, 93 percent of the union had authorized to the WNBPA executive committee to initiate a strike “when necessary.”
According to ESPN’s Alexa Philippou, “[M]ore than half of player leadership reaffirmed their desire to keep a strike on the table as a potential course of action.”
Further comments from Plum and Stewart, however, hint at a wavering interest in actually striking, even if the option remains. Plum asserted:
You can continue to negotiate without striking… I’ve always been someone that’s focused on the gain, not the gap. And to be honest, I think if you look at where we’ve come from, shoot, since I came into the league until now, and now that we’re in a revenue share, it’s a tremendous win.
Obviously, we’re going to continue to negotiate. I can’t emphasize that enough. Like we’re not just settling. I want to be very clear about that. But I’m super proud to be a part of this opportunity to change women’s sports.”
Stewart echoed her fellow WNBPA executive committee member, saying:
Now, as the league makes money, we make money. And so when [Plum] talks about “I don’t think a strike is good for anyone,“ because as the league loses money, or if we have a delay, we also lose money.
Paige Bueckers, also speaking from Unrivaled’s pre-semifinal press availability in Brooklyn, offered a similar sentiment, saying, “We as players, we don’t want to have a strike, we want to have a season.”
In contrast to the more conciliatory comments from Plum, Stewart and Bueckers, Alysha Clark, another WNBPA vice president who just finished competing in Athletes Unlimited, insisted that, “A strike is still very much on the table,” when responding to Las Vegas-Review Journal reporter Callie Fin on social media.
Fin subsequently took the temperature of other players that she described as “midlevel,” as well as their agents. The consensus sentiment is that this group does not feel they are “being well represented” in negotiations. One player highlighted the “misleading” proposed average salary numbers, stating, “We need to stand together and do what’s right for all players. The last couple of CBAs haven’t been kind to role players.”
Kiah Stokes, another Athletes Unlimited participant who recently aired some of her frustrations with the league’s approach to negotiations on social media, told Fin:
The process has just been frustrating. We want to play, we don’t want to strike if we don’t have to. I really had full confidence last year that we would have had a deal by now. So the stalling is annoying, for a lack of a better word. I understand it’s a business and everyone wants to turn a profit, but let’s be fair.
Fin also emphasized that the list of agents who signed the letter to the WNBPA that asked for “transparency and coordinated communication” as CBA negotiations progress were those whose client rosters include high-wattage stars, while neither Marcus Crenshaw of the Fam Sports nor Fabio Jardine of 1st pick Basketball Management, who, according to Fin, together represent almost half of the league, did not sign the letter.
Ahead of the Unrivaled semifinals, Natasha Cloud explicitly expressed concern for middle-class players, saying:
My biggest concern has always been the middle man… In all of these CBAs, and this isn’t no knock on anyone, our rookies have been taken care of and our 1 percent has been taken care of and that’s still true in this CBA.
These developing differences in perspective between classes of players, however, seemingly will have time to continue to simmer or diffuse.
Stewart indicated that negotiations must continue, as neither the WNBA’s or WNBPA’s most recent proposals are ready for a formal vote. She sought to make clear:
Obviously, we’re going to continue to negotiate. I can’t emphasize that enough. Like we’re not just settling. I want to be very clear about that. But I’m super proud to be a part of this opportunity to change women’s sports.
