Tuesday's CBA deadline has arrived, as both the league and WNBPA remain divided with unsettled negotiations threatening to delay the 2026 WNBA season.
The league reportedly issued its most recent proposal on Saturday, with no new clarity around issues like revenue sharing and housing stipends.
"We want the deal done, we want to have the season," WNBPA VP Breanna Stewart said over the weekend. "We just need to find the right numbers that reflect it."
Should the parties not reach a deal by Tuesday night, the union could call for a work stoppage, with the WNBPA voting to authorize a strike last December.
The WNBA is currently operating under a status quo from the previous CBA, with a moratorium on offseason transactions preventing player movement.
With expansion drafts, free agency, and a college draft left in the lurch, any delay beyond the deadline will impact the upcoming season, even without an official work stoppage.
That said, it's unclear whether the WNBA plans to push the season's previously announced May 8th tipoff, or attempt to instead truncate the 2026 preseason.
"Negotiation is not easy.... When I negotiate deals, you go back and forth until you come to a common ground," Chicago Sky star Angel Reese said from this week's USA Basketball camp. "We do all want to play basketball. But at the same time, we do want to be compensated for what we deserve."
The WNBA and WNBPA are still sparring, trading CBA proposals back and forth as both parties approach the final hours of the league's March 10th deadline.
The WNBA reportedly submitted its most recent offer on Saturday, one day after receiving the union's Friday counterproposal, though the details on any changes on the table remain unclear.
According to the WNBA, if the two parties fail to reach a deal by Tuesday — a verbal agreement on the terms at a minimum, if not a signed CBA — the 2026 season could face delays.
Union leadership expressed a willingness to meet with the league in-person, with WNBPA VP Breanna Stewart recently stating she'd make herself available for talks.
"I think that would be great for us all to sit in a room until we really get it done," the New York Liberty forward said from USA Basketball camp over the weekend. "If that means sitting in there for hours and hours at a time, let's do it."
"I don't understand why we don't just get in a room and iron it out and shake hands," echoed Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark. "That's how business is. You look each other in the eye, you shake hands. You respect both sides."
The WNBA submitted a new CBA offer this week while the players union publicly weighed the costs of calling for a strike should the parties not reach a deal by the league's March 10th deadline.
"I want to play, and players want to play," WNBPA first VP Kelsey Plum said prior to Monday's Unrivaled semifinals. "We're going to continue to negotiate and do everything we possibly can to get this done in a timely fashion."
"I think that while we still are fighting for a lot of different things, we have to realize that the rev share is a win, especially just even coming from the 2020 CBA and the ones before that," echoed fellow union VP Breanna Stewart. "Now, as the league makes money, we make money."
The WNBPA and the WNBA remain far apart on revenue sharing, with the league reportedly offering players 70% of net revenue minus expenses while the union pushes for 26% of gross revenue.
"At this point, it's not really a negotiation anymore. Both sides aren't moving," said Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers. "So, I feel like we need to continue to have these conversations, continue to actually have change implemented for us to move on our stance."
"We as players, we don't want a strike. We want to have a season," Bueckers continued. "But again, there's things that need to be handled, and we want to do it as professionals."
Minnesota is breaking new ground, as the Lynx prepare to face Nigeria in a preseason game on Monday, April 27th — becoming the first-ever WNBA franchise to tip off against an African national team.
That said, preseason clashes against national teams have become increasingly popular in the WNBA, with the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever both facing off against Brazil ahead of the 2025 season.
"The matchup against the Nigeria Women's National Team adds a compelling international element to the exhibition schedule," the Lynx said in a Tuesday statement, with the squads hitting the road to tip off inside Kansas City's T-Mobile Center.
The news arrives alongside two other preseason announcements out of Minnesota, with the Lynx set to take on the Washington Mystics in DC on Saturday, April 25th, before returning home from their Kansas City friendly to play 2026 expansion side Toronto Tempo on Friday, May 1st.
"The game against the Toronto Tempo, one of the WNBA's newest franchises, is sure to draw plenty of interest as the young organization continues to find its footing in the league," Minnesota said in a statement last week.
Notably, teams are moving ahead with preseason scheduling under the caveat that plans could change, with the WNBA recently giving the players union a hard March 10th deadline to agree on a new CBA before negotiations delay the 2026 season.
The WNBA continues making headlines amidst the ongoing CBA battle, with the WNBPA confirming Monday reports that the league passed the threshold for net revenue sharing for the first time in history last season.
The 13 teams who competed in the 2025 WNBA season will receive a total of $8 million out of an earned $16 million, with the funds split directly among active players from last year.
The league will invest the remaining $8 million into marketing agreements, in which select players receive promotional work for the WNBA in the offseason.
The players union has also begun distributing a total of $9.25 million of licensing revenue compiled from 2020 to 2025 to athletes playing during those years, with a maximum cap of $50,000 to those actively competing across all five seasons.
The news of the 2025 season's financial success comes on the same day that the WNBA set a hard deadline of Tuesday, March 10th, to reach a CBA deal, with revenue sharing still serving as the primary pain point between the league and the WNBPA.
While talks could continue past March 10th, the deadline serves as the final date before ongoing negotiations would delay the 2026 WNBA season, which is currently on track to tip off on Friday, May 8th.
As for next steps, ESPN reported Monday that over 50 players participated in a bargaining session earlier this week, with the union preparing a response to the league's Friday counterproposal.
WNBA leadership is on the clock, as the league's front office failed to produce a new proposal during Monday's in-person CBA meeting with the players union.
"They volunteered that they did not have a proposal prepared at the top of the meeting," WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike told Front Office Sports on Monday. "That kind of set the tone for the conversation because we were hoping to hear otherwise."
Reports now indicate that the WNBA plans to officially respond to the union's December CBA proposal, though the timeline for the league to do so remains unclear.
Negotiations between the WNBA and WNBPA are currently at an impasse, as talks drag on months after the old contract's late-October expiration — and weeks past the double CBA deadline extensions — with a work stoppage still possible entering the 2026 season.
"After the meeting today, [a strike is] still on the table," WNBPA VP Alysha Clark told FOS on Monday.
However, the Washington Mystics forward also tempered the possibility of a work stoppage, adding "Until we get a response from the league about proposals, there's nothing that we've been able to negotiate and go back and forth with to even warrant 'Ok, what does a strike look like?'"
The WNBA's most recent proposal features a $1.3 million maximum salary, with the parties continuing to spar over a revenue sharing plan — arguably the highest priority item according to the players.
"The sooner it gets to a WNBA season, we're prepared to do it — to not play," WNBPA VP Breanna Stewart said on her Game Recognizes Game podcast this week. "But we don't want to. We want to play."
The WNBA continued its holding pattern this week, with the league and WNBPA reportedly agreeing to a moratorium on free agency transactions while still negotiating a new CBA.
The league office and players union did not reach a deal prior to last Friday's deadline expiration, with both parties choosing to move into a status quo period in which the old CBA terms remain in effect — rather than negotiate a third extension.
While the moratorium puts the 2026 WNBA season's free agency period in question, it also allows teams to avoid making offers to players that are unlikely to sign under the expiring CBA with its likely lower compensation thresholds than the expected incoming deal.
With nearly every WNBA veteran signing short-term deals in anticipation of the new CBA last offseason, all but two league vets are free agents entering 2026 — and while a work stoppage isn't currently imminent, the clock is ticking.
The league originally set the free agency period to begin this week, with 2026 newcomers the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire now sitting in a holding pattern as the incoming franchises await the stalled expansion draft details.
Roster building aside, the moratorium does allow for other aspects of league business to continue, with players still able to access team facilities and openly communicate with team executives.
The WNBA CBA deadline came and went on Friday, leaving the league and the players union in a status quo holding pattern while negotiations drag on.
The WNBA and WNBPA are continuing talks under the conditions of the previous CBA, without a moratorium on offseason activity like qualifying offers to restricted free agents.
The league originally set the opening to begin free agency conversations for January 11th, allowing teams to now start sending offers through January 20th — though those proposed deals must abide by the terms of the expired CBA.
Amidst the deluge of one-year deals inked last offseason in anticipation of a renegotiated CBA — and the significant compensation bump likely to result from a new agreement — nearly all WNBA veterans are now free agents, with reports indicating that players aren't eager to sign contracts under the old CBA.
This year's free agency period also hinges on the league's expected two-team expansion draft, with incoming franchises Portland and Toronto unable to build their rosters due to the ongoing CBA delays.
Though the WNBA is reportedly not yet considering locking out the players, the WNBPA recently reserved the right to formally authorize a work stoppage through a strike measure, saying the "WNBA and its teams have failed to meet us at the table with the same spirit and seriousness."
The WNBA and WNBPA remain in a negotiations deadlock, with New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart telling reporters that the two parties will not reach a CBA resolution before Friday night's extended deadline expires.
"We are not coming to an agreement by tomorrow, I can tell you that," Stewart said Thursday from Unrivaled 3×3's Miami campus. "We're just going to continue to negotiate in good faith."
The WNBA will now enter into a status quo period under the old CBA, in which negotiations will continue beyond the formal deadline.
Last month, the WNBPA voted to give union leadership permission to strike should that become necessary, but players view a total work stoppage as a last resort.
"[A strike is] not something that we're going to do right this second, but we have that in our back pocket," Stewart clarified.
The league and its players remain far apart on revenue sharing, among other issues, as the union pushes for more equitable gross distribution while the WNBA looks to offset expenses with a net sharing mechanism.
Though things are still up in the air, the union does seem to be taking precautions, announcing the launch of WNBPA Player Hubs on Thursday — resources for players "when team facilities are off-limits."
Described as "training facilities offering WNBA players continued access to courts, weight rooms, and recovery spaces throughout the offseason," the global network of university gyms and other performance centers will help athletes stay fit "regardless of league operation."
The WNBA Players Association has spoken, voting on Thursday to authorize a players strike "when necessary" as CBA talks stall well into a second extension period from the original deadline to reach a deal.
With 93% of eligible players participating, 98% voted in favor of giving union leadership the authority to call a work stoppage.
"The players' vote is neither a call for an immediate strike nor an intention to pursue one," clarified the WNBPA in a Thursday release. "Rather, it is an emphatic affirmation of the players' confidence in their leadership and their unwavering solidarity against ongoing efforts to divide, conquer, and undervalue them."
While not a direct indicator of intent, the strike vote does give the WNBPA another CBA negotiating tool as players and WNBA leadership remain at odds.
According to ESPN sources, the league's newest proposal includes an uncapped revenue sharing model that would raise maximum WNBA salaries above $1.3 million — while the WNBPA fights for 30% of gross revenue.
The WNBA later released a response to the union's vote, stating, "It is difficult to understand claims that the league is resistant to change, particularly given that we are proposing numerous CBA modifications including significant immediate salary increases and a new uncapped revenue-sharing model that would ensure continued salary growth tied to revenue growth."
After two extensions, the current deadline to reach a CBA is January 9th — though if negotiations falter, either the WNBA or the union can end the extended talks with 48 hours of notice.