WNBA: Why rumblings persist about Paige Bueckers’ pro future

While hoping that the NCAA Tournament begins to offer more buzzer beaters than blowouts, catch up on the latest buzz about the business of women’s basketball:

Where’s the WNBPA’s publicity strategy?

In his Wednesday basketball newsletter for The IX, Howard Megdal dropped of number of newsy nuggets relevant to the business of women’s basketball, including thoughts about the ongoing CBA negotiations between the WNBA and WNBPA.

Megdal made a point worth amplifying, especially for the those of us sympathetic to the players’ bargaining position. The WNBA’s new media rights deal, announced to much fanfare last fall, is eight times richer than the league’s previous deal. Megdal posits this data point makes for an easily-digestible public argument for the players, writing:

So how every WNBA player in the world isn’t saying on every single podcast, “We’re not asking for NBA money, we just want eight times what we got last time, since that’s the growth in media rights” is utterly perplexing to me. How is that not the starting point for public posturing?

As Megdal notes, the financials are not that simple, but, if players want public opinion on their side, especially as nefarious online actors aim to intentionally misconstrue the statements of Angel Reese and other players who have spoken publicly about the players’ CBA priorities, emphasizing “eight times” as the fair share they want seems smart.

175-plus national TV games for the W

Speaking of the WNBA and media rights, the league announced its national television and streaming schedule for the 2025 season on Thursday. The regular season, when every team will play a record 44 games, tips off on May 16 and concludes Sept. 11.

ABC and ESPN will broadcast 13 games a piece, including the 2025 All-Star Game on ABC and every game of the WNBA Playoffs on ESPN. ION will reprise it’s Friday night doubleheader broadcasts, showing 50 total games across the season. Prime Video remains the home of the Commissioner’s Cup Championship Game, in addition to the exclusive streamer for 20 other regular-season games. While CBS Sports Network will broadcast 12 games, CBS Network will feature eight games, highlighted by the league’s first ever primetime regular-season games on broadcast television. 40 more games will be shown on NBA TV.

On top of all that action, fans who sign up for WNBA League Pass will have access to over 200 live-streamed games.

Unrivaled assesses inaugural season

And for even more evidence of how television is considered a barometer of success and sustainability for women’s basketball, see Unrivaled, where the new 3×3 league’s championship game saw a significant spike in viewership.

As reported by Sports Business Journal, Unrivaled’s average of 186,000 across its regular-season broadcasts on TNT and truTV was more than the average number of viewers for NWSL regular-season games, while also exceeding the viewers attracted by the Big Ten Network’s women’s college basketball broadcasts. On social media, Unrivaled’s accounts generated 157 million views and 12 million engagements.

To reach more fans, executives with TNT floated the prospect of playing games beyond the single-site location in Miami to SBJ. Morgan Weinbrecht, TNT director of live production, said:

There are so many ways we can grow. It was played for eight weeks in Miami. What if it goes and plays a week in New York? What if it goes and plays a week in California? What if it moves around every week? What does it look like to bring this even closer to the fans? We want to be able to have an impact on more viewers, fans, champions.

Ann Lutzenkirchen, TNT Sports supervisory producer, added:

I would love that—get more fans involved It is a very repetitive broadcast every week because it’s the same arena. … So if it was up to me, I would say let’s go on the road all the time. It’s exciting that people are even talking about that, because it’s showing that, hey, there’s an appetite and there’s a success story here.

No matter where Unrivaled goes in 2026, Steph Curry will be behind it, as the Golden State Warriors’ superstar headlined the latest group of announced investors in the league.

The business of Bueckers

Returning Howard Megdal’s Wednesday newsletter for The IX, he additionally reported on persistent murmurings about how the advent of a new WNBA CBA in 2026 could impact Paige Bueckers’ fast-approaching professional future.

As Megdal outlines, this is a decision that is about more than basketball. If it was just about basketball, there would be no second thoughts about Bueckers joining the Dallas Wings as the No. 1 overall pick in April’s draft. But, Bueckers’ personal financial business, as well as overall player empowerment, also are at stake, and, as Megdal recognizes, because she is a player who carries both on- and off-court star power, she is in the position where she could choose to prioritize more than basketball.

In terms of Bueckers’ personal business, playing for the Wings in 2025 would lock Bueckers into four-year rookie scale deal, whereas not signing on with a team until 2026 (whether that be Dallas or with another franchise) would set her up with a more lucrative and likely more flexible contractual situation.

In addition to prioritizing her own earning power, Megdal also suggests Bueckers could exercise her stature to advance the power of the wider population of women’s basketball players. A scenario he pitches as plausible is Bueckers choosing to make her professional debut with Unrivaled in January 2026, thus injecting an extra dose (or two or three) of excitement into the 3×3 league’s second season. (Bueckers has an equity stake in Unrivaled). At that point, if the WNBA and WNBPA had not agreed to a new CBA, Bueckers’ presence in Unrivaled could advantage the players, proving that women’s pro basketball players do not need the WNBA and, in turn, putting pressure on the league to cede to players’ demands.

Yes, this is all hypothetical. But, the options and avenues available to Bueckers illuminate the degree to which women’s basketball is becoming a big, star-driven business (see the 41 national TV games for Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever), where those with the highest profiles will have the power to shape the business, should they choose to do so.