Basketball's biggest stars aren't holding back on criticizing the league's CBA proposal after the WNBA Player's Association (WNBPA) rejected last week's opening offer.
With the parties set to engage in CBA negotiations during next week's 2025 WNBA All-Star Weekend, Phoenix Mercury forward and WNBPA representative Satou Sabally called the league's initial offer "a slap in the face."
Also weighing in was WNBPA vice president and New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart, who echoed Sabally's sentiment by confirming her frustration with the league to reporters.
"Anytime you go back-and-forth, you're not expecting to hear that 'yes' on the first [proposal], but you're expecting to have a conversation," she added. "They kind of just ignored everything we said."
The WNBA's current CBA expires at the end of this season, with players upping their demands in light of the league's recent popularity boom and planned expansion.
"It's been made clear that [there's] this perception that the players don't understand the business," WNBPA president and Seattle forward Nneka Ogwumike told reporters on Saturday. "We want to have a growing portion of the revenue share. We want this league to be exactly what it is today and more. So I'm hoping that something positive [and] progressive yields from this meeting that we'll have in Indy."
The WNBPA will enter face-to-face CBA negotiations with the WNBA in Indianapolis later this month, with the union tapping Nobel Prize-winning economist Claudia Goldin to assist in what Stewart predicts will be a "spicy" meeting.