WNBA sends players long-awaited counterproposal in labor negotiations

The ball is now in the players union’s court. 

The WNBA shared a counterproposal to the Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association on Friday for a new collective bargaining agreement, sources confirmed to The Post.

The WNBPA had been waiting for an official response from the league since it filed a proposal Christmas morning.

Several members of the union’s executive committee, including WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike, attended an in-person meeting with league officials on Monday in hopes of breaking an impasse in CBA talks that had stalled in recent weeks.

Instead of arriving with a response to the union’s proposal submitted roughly six weeks ago, the WNBA shared slides that detailed some of the improvements and benefits the league had already agreed to offer in the new deal.

Some of those proposed changes included a supermax base salary of $1.1 million in 2026 that could swell to $1.8 million by 2030.

The average base salary for the upcoming season is projected to jump to $465,000 — up from roughly $102,000 in 2025. 

Other proposed improvements from the league include more guaranteed contracts, two developmental player spots per team, increased performance bonuses and the introduction of salary cap exceptions for pregnant players and those who suffer season-ending injury, among other items. 

The biggest sticking point in the negotiations, though, continues to center on revenue share. 

Players are asking for roughly 30 percent of gross revenue share and a $10.5 million salary cap. The WNBA previously offered 70 percent of the net revenue share (which equates to roughly 15 percent of gross league and team revenue share) and a $5 million salary cap. It’s unclear as of publication whether the league changed those figures in their most recent proposal.

One source previously told The Post the WNBA didn’t believe the union’s late December proposal warranted a response because it was “essentially unchanged” from the previous proposal. 

However, that sentiment — that the WNBPA’s most recent proposal was too incremental — was never expressed directly to the union at any point leading up to Monday’s meeting, sources said.

Both sides are feeling the time crunch, with the 2026 season scheduled to start May 8. If talks continue to drag on beyond this month then a delayed start to the season will likely be inevitable. 

The two-team expansion draft, free agency and the college draft can’t happen until a CBA is ratified.

Oguwmike told the Associated Press, which first reported the new proposal Friday, that she believed a deal would come to fruition quickly once both sides agreed on a revenue-sharing model. 

“We made the point that once we nail this, we can get everything else done,” Ogwumike told the outlet.