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Women’s National Basketball Players Association executive committee vice president Napheesa Collier echoed recent comments from Angel Reese about a potentially tense collective bargaining fight ahead.
Collier, speaking this week in an interview with We Need to Talk, a CBS podcast, said she relished the opportunity to lobby for expanded player rights. In fact, when asked what she’s most looking forward to in the 2025 WNBA season, the Minnesota Lynx forward said “the CBA.”
Like Reese, the Chicago Sky forward who said she’s hearing a strike is on the table, Collier indicated players are prepared to sit out in 2026, though they are hopeful they can avoid a work stoppage. The current CBA expires at the end of the upcoming season.
“This is the first [WNBA negotiations] that I’ve been a part of,” said Collier, the co-founder of 3-on-3 league Unrivaled, which has helped increase WNBA salary expectations. “That’s going to be really fun, because the changes that are going on in the sport … taking the leverage we’ve been able to garner.”
The four-time WNBA All-Star said the biggest change she has seen since entering the league from UConn in 2019 is player empowerment. She believes a massive rise in viewership last season—and, in her words, stars becoming national superstars—has given the WNBPA more bargaining power.
On top of that, NWSL athletes secured one of the most player-friendly CBAs in American sports history last year.
“You’re seeing the power shift to the players, and especially for us right now, it’s such a power that we hold that we need to use correctly in the CBA negotiations,” Collier said.
Collier nearly matched her entire 2024 WNBA salary ($208,000) in one night of Unrivaled basketball last month by winning the league’s 1-on-1 bracket. She said Unrivaled’s superior salary structure has added fuel to WNBA player demands, which include a greater cut of league revenue.
In a statement last week, WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson said “members are passionate about the future of this league, and we’re proud to represent a group that’s united, dialed in and pushing for a transformational deal that’s fair.”
The WNBA has not responded to requests for comment.
