WNBA Season on the Brink

PHILADELPHIA — The WNBA and the players’ union will meet in person in New York City on Monday for the first time since the fall amid stalled CBA negotiations. 

Talking to reporters at Unrivaled, WNBPA VP Kelsey Plum said she and Napheesa Collier will travel to New York after their teams play each other in Miami on Sunday night. WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike will be in attendance as well, along with the league’s CBA leadership, labor relations committee, and league and union staff, a source with direct knowledge of the meeting told Front Office Sports. 

The meeting will also include team owners, but the source declined to say whether all would attend. 

“I feel extremely excited for the opportunity to be there in person,” Plum said. “Obviously with other players that are really invested in this in the executive committee. Then of course, the league making a commitment to be there. At the end of the day, that’s the most important thing. We’re meeting together and hopefully we’ll have something.” 

The WNBPA sent a proposal at the end of December that the league failed to respond to for more than four weeks. The league didn’t believe the contents of the union’s proposal warranted a response, according to a source familiar with the league’s thinking. 

In the last month communication has been exchanged, but there have been no full bargaining sessions between the two sides. 

The proposal submitted by the union in late December presented a $10.5 million salary cap and a 30% share of total league revenue. The WNBA’s last proposal includes a revenue-sharing model that equates to about 15% of total league revenue and a max base salary of $1 million, up from $249,244 in 2025. 

The average salary under the union’s proposal would amount to more than $800,000, while the league’s proposed average salary would be more than $530,000 after revenue-sharing is factored in. A source familiar with the league’s thinking believes the WNBA has made significant movement regarding the union’s compensation requests, salary, and revenue-sharing. Additionally, the league’s reluctance to engage with the union’s last proposal is tied to its belief that it would amount to significant losses. 

“We will not fucking move until y’all move,” New York Liberty guard Natasha Cloud told reporters in Philadelphia on Friday. “It would be the worst business decision of any business to not literally pay the player that make your business go. Without us, there is no W season. So, the pressure is on the WNBA, on Cathy [Engelbert], on Adam [Silver], on everyone that is in that front office.” 

Cloud’s candor didn’t stop there. She said she was “disgusted” with the league’s handling of negotiations, including what she believes has been a “failure to even move the needle with us.” 

Negotiations are currently in a period of status quo after the Jan. 9 CBA deadline—the second extension since the CBA originally expired Oct. 31—came and went with no deal and no agreement to a new extension. Earlier this month, both sides agreed to a moratorium, which stopped free agency. 

The season is scheduled to tip off May 8, but sources have become skeptical about that being a reality as negotiations push into February. The outcome of Monday’s meeting will indicate whether the start to the WNBA’s 30th season is in jeopardy. 

“We’ll learn a lot from this meeting,” Plum said. “Everyone understands what’s at stake, timeline-wise.”