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The frozen collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations between the WNBA and WNBPA might begin to thaw on Monday.
On Feb. 2, representatives from the league and union are scheduled to hold a face-to-face meeting in New York. On the players’ side, among those expected to attend are WNBPA executive committee members Nneka Ogwumike (president), Kelsey Plum (first vice president) and Napheesa Collier (vice president). Other committee members and/or team union representatives, including Breanna Stewart (vice president), may be present or participate remotely.
The meeting, according to Plum, will be the first in-person confab between players and the league since the fall. Per ESPN, league and union staff have continued to meet, although the two sides have not held a full bargaining session in over a month.
Speaking ahead of Friday night’s Philly is Unrivaled games, Plum shared:
At the end of the day, we’re human beings. I think conversation face-to-face goes a long way.
Going into this meeting, I’m just excited for the opportunity to be able to be there in person with other players that are really invested in this, in the [executive committee] and stuff, and then of course the league making the commitment to be there.
Plum also expressed, “I think we’ll learn a lot from this meeting. This is a meeting that, I think, everyone understands what’s at stake, timeline-wise.”
The 2026 WNBA season will begin Friday, May 8, according to the league’s recently-released schedule. That’s less than 100 days away, with the league needing to complete a two-team expansion, free agency and the college draft, which is scheduled for April 13.
Despite the fact that the WNBA has not responded to the proposal shared by the WNBPA approximately one month ago, as the league, according to ESPN, “is waiting for the players to submit what it would consider a more ‘realistic’ proposal,” Plum offered more optimism about the forthcoming meeting, suggesting:
I think the thing is just sitting down and understanding the relationship and conversation, I think, is No. 1.
Let’s be real: When we play telephone with people in our own lives, a lot of times things can get scattered, right? So to be able to sit down face-to-face and say ‘this is how I feel, this is how you feel, let’s see what we can do from there.
