Reigning WNBA champion A'ja Wilson picked up yet another honor this week, as TIME crowned the four-time league MVP its 2025 Athlete of the Year on Tuesday.
The Las Vegas Aces center became the first player in WNBA history to win a championship, Finals MVP, league MVP, and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season, with the 29-year-old sweeping the league's awards this year.
"This year, I collected everything," Wilson said in her TIME interview. "I don't really talk much sh-t — I mean crap. I kind of let my game do it."
Wilson described the Aces' midseason slump as a focusing agent in her 2025 TIME Athlete of the Year feature, with the skid launching the team on course to their third championship win in four years.
"I think 2025 was a wake-up call that I needed, to let me know that I can't be satisfied with anything," said Wilson. "There's somebody out there that's going to try to take your job. You need to make sure you're great at it, every single day."
Wilson also spoke to the strained relationship between players and WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, whose leadership came under fire in October as CBA negotiations kicked into high gear.
"I only know Cathy by when she hands me trophies," Wilson said. "If that's her true self, thank you for showing that. Thank you for saying those things. Because now we see you for who you are, and now we're about to work even harder at this negotiation."
With the latest CBA extension expiring on January 9th, Wilson promised that the players are all-in on negotiations through the holiday season.
“All of us are going to be at the table, and we're not moving until we get exactly what we want."
Las Vegas Aces boss Becky Hammon spoke her mind last week, telling CNBC Sport that the WNBA might need "a change in leadership" for the league's CBA talks to successfully progress.
"I just think [player relations] might be too fractured at this point, but we'll see," Hammon said, while also noting that she's had only limited interactions with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
Citing Engelbert's "private conversations...with individual players — or lack of the conversations," Hammon described the commissioner's current relationship with players as "rocky" while describing her widely criticized leadership style.
"I don't know if she can ever regret, retract, and get that traction back from those conversations," the Aces boss posited.
"When the players speak, people need to sit up and listen," she continued. "I think [Engelbert is] sitting up and listening now."
Hammon also voiced support for Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier after the five-time All-Star described the WNBA as having the "worst leadership in the world" in her now-viral 2025 exit interview.
"I completely agree with Napheesa that the players should be making more than coaches," the Las Vegas sideline leader — who publicly earns seven figures per year — continued. "They're due for a huge increase in salary, and it's got to be something that is sustainable. That's the biggest thing you got to remember, that this league is still a young league."
Ultimately, while the 2025 WNBA season is over, CBA concerns loom large over the league's current offseason and 2026 campaign, leaving Hammon and others looking to avoid a lockout as the November 30th extension deadline nears.
With the October 31st WNBA CBA deadline just days away, more than 70 elected officials are weighing in, sending a letter voicing support for the WNBA Players Association (WNBPA) to league commissioner Cathy Engelbert and NBA commissioner Adam Silver last Friday.
"This new CBA deal is an opportunity to set the record straight that women are valuable workers who deserve to be paid accordingly and treated fairly," the letter states.
The lawmakers also urge the league to "bargain in good faith to reach a fair CBA" before the current agreement expires.
Mayors, council members, and assembly members from seven WNBA markets signed the document — including New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani — as WNBA leadership continues facing increased scrutiny.
"We all want to be able to take in a full season, but we know...what [the players] deserve to earn," said New York City council member Tiffany Cabán, a longtime NY Liberty fan who spearheaded the effort.
The action represents a growing number of politicians applying public pressure to commissioner Engelbert, with the letter's 70 lawmakers joining the 85 members of the Democratic Women's Caucus and House Democratic Caucus, who penned their own letter last month.
As external pressure builds, hope is dimming for an agreement by Friday, with WNBPA senior advisor and legal counsel Erin D. Drake telling The Athletic on Tuesday that "it takes two to tango, and it has been difficult to find a beat, to find a rhythm, and to find the same sense of urgency [from the WNBA]."
As all eyes turn to the WNBA this week, the question remains whether a new CBA or deadline extension will be on Friday's docket.
"We're still going to be negotiating until [it's] done," promised Drake. "We just don't know how long that is going to take, unfortunately."
Adam Silver is back in the headlines, with the NBA commissioner speaking out on the increasingly fraught WNBA CBA negotiations on Tuesday — and pushing for controlled salary increases rather than the revenue sharing model that players overwhelmingly want.
"I think [revenue] share isn't the right way to look at it because there's so much more revenue in the NBA," Silver told the Today Show. "I think you should look at absolute numbers. In terms of what they are making, they are going to get a big increase in this cycle of collective bargaining, and they deserve it."
In response, the WNBPA posted a clip of Silver's interview to Instagram Stories, captioning it with "Don't want to share, @adamsilvernba?"
Tuesday's back-and-forth emphasizes a significant wedge issue within the CBA talks, as WNBA players argue for a salary cap determined by the total revenue generated from all basketball-related activities like ticket sales, media deals, sponsorships, and merchandise — the same model currently used in the NBA.
The WNBA — like Silver — wants salary cap growth to continue on a fixed scale, raising player salaries in the upcoming CBA while controlling revenue distribution at the stakeholder level.
"I think we all agree we're trying to return every dollar we possibly can to the players, but we also want to incentivize investment from owners," WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said when addressing the issue earlier this month.
With less than 10 days remaining before the CBA's October 31st deadline, differences continue to outweigh common ground en route to an unlikely deal.
With the October 31st WNBA CBA deadline looming, ESPN recently conducted an anonymous survey of team owners, executives, players, and other insiders about the simmering tensions between athletes and league leadership in the wake of Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier's viral exit interview last month.
"Once you have that kind of fighting with your best players, it's a death spiral," a team executive told ESPN after fans booed commissioner Cathy Engelbert at this year's WNBA Finals.
"Change is a must," another exec said in the anonymous WNBA survey. "Either Cathy has to change how she relates to the players, or there has to be a change in that role."
That said, not everyone agreed, with one owner saying, "If you fire her now, it's admitting weakness. It's a terrible look for the league. I can't stand what [Collier] did. That was a private conversation. It makes me not want to fire [Engelbert] — even though I think she should be."
CBA negotiations have also remained frosty this month, with Las Vegas Aces star guard Chelsea Gray telling ESPN that the talks are "not where we thought and wanted to be at this point in time. It's market share, it's salaries, it's player safety, it's everything."
With the parties still reportedly far from a deal, the threat of a work stoppage next season hangs over the stalled proceedings.
"I don't think it's going to be done by Halloween," a league source told ESPN. "[But] in the end, a work stoppage doesn't benefit anybody."
WNBA All-Star Weekend is returning to the Windy City, with the league announcing Thursday that it will hold the 2026 All-Star Game in Chicago next summer.
The game will tip off on Saturday, July 25th, inside the 20,917-seat United Center, while the 3-Point Contest and Skills Challenge will take place the night before at the 10,380-capacity Wintrust Arena, home to the Chicago Sky.
"The WNBA is thrilled to bring AT&T WNBA All-Star back to Chicago, which will undoubtedly deliver unforgettable competition and community outreach," said commissioner Cathy Engelbert in Thursday's statement. "Together with the Chicago Sky, we look forward to celebrating the game's brightest stars, engaging WNBA fans around the world, and showcasing the energy of one of basketball's most iconic cities."
The 2026 WNBA All-Star Game will mark Chicago's second time hosting the midseason event after the 2022 edition landed in the Windy City.
"We can't wait to build on the success of the previous All-Star Game and celebrate the explosive growth of the league by showcasing the WNBA's biggest stars on a world-class stage," Chicago Sky CEO and president Adam Fox said.
While the first All-Star Game in Chicago took place at Wintrust Arena, next year's stage includes a significant venue upgrade to the United Center.
The Sky played their first-ever games at the Bulls' NBA arena this past season, taking on the Indiana Fever for two regular-season 2025 WNBA matchups.
"We're ecstatic to host the 2026 WNBA All-Star Game and build on the two sell-out Chicago Sky games played at the United Center this year," said United Center VP of booking Jerry Goldman.
The WNBA will be eager to showcase its growth since its last All-Star visit, as investment — both internal and external — remains a hot topic heading into the league's 2026 season.
The Las Vegas Aces won the 2025 WNBA Championship in Friday's Game 4, sweeping the Phoenix Mercury to put a bow on the league's longest-ever season — while also starting the clock on its next CBA.
"We have great players," Aces guard Chelsea Gray told reporters, stressing the importance of the upcoming deal after helping secure Las Vegas's third title in four years. "You need to treat them like that."
Like many teams across the league, the Aces have just one player under contract for 2026 — rookie Aaliyah Nye — after a rash of now-free agents opted to sign one-year contracts in anticipation of salary shifts in the upcoming CBA.
With the October 31st deadline looming, negotiations are likely to extend past that mark amid mounting tensions between players and WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert in recent weeks.
"I think they'll work it out somehow, I hope — I haven't been consulted," said Aces owner Mark Davis.
Davis also joked about making Becky Hammon the best-paid head coach in the WNBA, with the Las Vegas manager currently pulling in $1 million annually — four times the single-year supermax player contract under the league's current CBA.
Salary structure a tipping point in WNBA CBA negotiations
As for the players union, the WNBPA says they're aiming to expand revenue sharing, while the league is reportedly looking to keep salary structures mostly intact.
"It's basically the same system that we exist in right now," WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike told ESPN in August. "When you approach it from the perspective of their response to our proposal, yes, money is more, but ultimately if you look at the growth of the business, the money relative to the percentage of everything is virtually staying the same."
According to Front Office Sports, the most recent WNBA offer included an $850,000 supermax contract plus a veteran minimum near $300,000.
The WNBA will likely have until the end of 2025 to strike a deal, but with little common ground emerging thus far, the potential for a work stoppage looms large.
Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier was back on stage this week, opening up about her viral exit interview blasting WNBA leadership to former US Vice President Kamala Harris at the "A Day of Unreasonable Conversation" summit in LA on Monday.
"For so long, we tried to have these conversations and move the needle," she said. "And I saw nothing was changing."
"I think I just got to the point where I was fed up [with WNBA leadership]," Collier told Harris. "Whether I was going to get annihilated for this, or people were gonna support me, I felt like what I was doing was right."
Collier also doubled down on her position, publicly cancelling a meeting with Cathy Engelbert after the WNBA commissioner denied Collier's account of a past conversation regarding Caitlin Clark and rookie compensation.
"For [Engelbert] to start her speech saying she has the utmost respect for me and for the players, and then to turn around and call me a liar three minutes later... I think it just speaks to that lack of accountability and so I really have nothing further to say [to her]," Collier told Axios on Monday, confirming the meeting's cancellation.
While both Engelbert and NBA commissioner Adam Silver have committed to repairing relationships between players and league leadership, Collier's recent outspokenness shows just how much ground there is to cover.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver was in the hot seat this week, addressing the growing rift between WNBA players and commissioner Cathy Engelbert while urging the league to come together on a new CBA agreement.
"Cathy Engelbert has presided over historic growth in the league, but there's no question that there's issues that we need to address with our players, not just economic," Silver said on Monday while acknowledging the significant power the NBA holds over WNBA operations. "I'm confident we can fix those over time and this league can continue to be on the rocket trajectory that it's on right now."
The viral exit interview from Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier blasting WNBA leadership has placed serious pressure on Engelbert, but the NBA's outsized stake in the league also plays into increasingly heated collective bargaining negotiations.
NBA team owners collectively control 42% of the women's league, though WNBA players receive a much smaller revenue share than NBA players.
Under the current CBA, the WNBA must hit certain financial benchmarks before that revenue even becomes available — with players also reporting they're not given access to the data tracking those benchmarks.
Lisa Leslie, Kelley O'Hara break down WNBA leadership issues
Big names are continuing to speak out on the issues, from Engelbert's future to the WNBA's precarious relationship with the NBA.
"Cathy, yes, has done a really good job of helping raise capital, of helping administer the television deal… but you're only able to do that because of those players that are on the floor," retired WNBA icon Lisa Leslie said on Between the Lines late last week. "Listen, the wolf is only as strong as the pack and the pack is only as strong as the wolf. But just know, when the wolf doesn't lead the pack properly, the pack will eat the wolf."
"The bigger issue is the structure of the league, NBA being the ones who essentially make the decisions, and that's really who the Players Association is negotiating with," said USWNT legend Kelley O'Hara on this week's episode of Sports Are Fun! "Cathy's in the negotiation, but Cathy has to go back and get a sign-off from the NBA…. That's the bigger issue that Phee's trying to get to the heart of."
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert faced the media in a pre-Finals press conference on Friday, addressing last week's viral leadership take-down by Minnesota star Napheesa Collier — and calling out some of the Lynx forward's more controversial claims.
Engelbert said Collier's account of their past conversations "had a lot of inaccuracies," with the commissioner specifically denying that she said rookie stars like Caitlin Clark "should be on their knees thanking their lucky stars" for the exposure the WNBA provides.
"Obviously, I did not make those comments," Engelbert said. "There is a lot of inaccuracy out there through social media and all of this reporting."
With more players speaking out and CBA negotiations heating up, Engelbert took some responsibility for the state of the league — one Collier said has "the worst leadership in the world."
"I was disheartened to hear that some players feel the league — and me, personally — don't care about them or listen to them," she said. "If the players in the W don't feel appreciated and valued by the league, then we have to do better, and I have to do better."
Engelbert also told reporters she set up a meeting with Collier for this week, though ESPN later reported that Collier canceled the meeting after hearing the commissioner's Friday remarks.
Despite growing unrest throughout the WNBA, Engelbert also denied the recent rumors she'd be resigning from her post as commissioner anytime soon.
"I've never been a quitter," she stated.