The WNBA and WNBPA are still at odds, as three consecutive days of marathon negotiations this week have yet to yield a new CBA.
Beginning with a 12 hour meeting on Tuesday, the two parties exceeded 30 hours of negotiations this week as of late Thursday.
"Being able to be in the room, being able to exchange proposals, we're feeling movement," WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike told reporters. "We're sticking to the process."
The league's latest proposal reportedly includes a $6.2 million year-one salary cap, with a $1.3 million 2026 maximum contract — movement on both metrics since the previous WNBA offer.
"We're proud of the deal we have on the table," said WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert. "I think it's huge gains for the players, while balancing that with the health of the league."
Even though numbers appear to be on the rise, the revenue sharing gap remains unclear, after differing models emerged as a wedge issue between the two parties.
While negotiations have blown past the league's March 10th deadline, the WNBA has not yet implemented any 2026 season schedule changes as of Friday morning, with the upcoming campaign set to tip off on Friday, May 8th.
"We haven't ever really considered [the deadline] as a timeline that has been something to prioritize on our side, because we have always been negotiating in good faith," said Ogwumike.
"At the end of the day, we want a season," she added. "We want to play."
The WNBA and WNBPA came together at the CBA negotiating table on Tuesday, meeting for what became a 12-hour bargaining session stretching into Wednesday's early hours — and failing to reach a deal.
Union president Nneka Ogwumike led the player contingent at the midtown Manhattan marathon meeting, joined by WNBPA VPs Breanna Stewart and Alysha Clark, and treasurer Brianna Turner.
New York Liberty owner Clara Wu Tsai also reportedly joined the CBA talks alongside WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert and head of league operations Bethany Donaphin.
The in-person sit-down came on the heels of the league's March 10th deadline, set to preserve the scheduled May 8th tipoff of the 2026 WNBA season while also allotting for an expansion draft, free agency, and college draft — all before team training camps begin on April 19th.
"Conversations are continuing, as they need to be," WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson told media Wednesday morning, declining to give a concrete timeline but noting that things were "going in the right direction."
"We're working hard... and still have work to do," Engelbert noted, calling the talks "really important to the future not just of the league, but of women's sports."
While the parties have yet to agree on terms, the overnight marathon indicates a willingness on both sides to continue communicating — rather than hop on the picket line.
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 and WNBPA continue to spar over CBA details, with the league office reportedly issuing a quick response to the union's most recent offer on Friday.
Sources say Friday's draft fails to budge on the highly contested revenue sharing model, with the league holding strong in their previously offered 70% net revenue to players in contrast to the union's preferred gross revenue share.
The pair also remain far apart on salary cap, with the union proposing a $9.5 million cap in the first year in contrast to the WNBA's $5.65 million limit.
The latest WNBA offer has, however, addressed other concerns, guaranteeing new and minimum contract players housing for the first three years of the CBA while giving developmental players housing throughout the entirety of the agreement.
Other notable concessions include new developmental roster spots, increased 401(k) support, and guaranteed charter flights.
After six weeks of stalled talks opened the new year, both parties have sped up their response times as the 2026 WNBA season looms.
Without a deal, both free agency transactions and planned expansion drafts remain on ice — with less than 10 weeks until the season's scheduled tip-off.
"It is unfathomable that anyone would question our commitment to negotiations and desire to get a deal done after nearly a year and a half of pushing and pulling, meetings upon meetings, proposal after counter proposal," WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson wrote last week in a message obtained by The Athletic.
Saying that the league and teams have "played games," Jackson doubled down on the union's offer.
"What we have proposed is very realistic."
The ball is back in the league's court, as the WNBPA reportedly countered the latest WNBA CBA proposal this week — with sources confirming that the players union made concessions on revenue sharing and housing in their Tuesday offer.
The WNBPA is now stipulating an average gross revenue share of 27.5% — down from 31% — starting at 25% in the first year with a less-than-$9.5 million salary cap.
The proposal also counters the WNBA's most recent housing offer, which only covered minimum salary, rookie players, and developmental athletes for the first three years of the CBA, by extending team-provided housing to all players — a provision that has existed in some form since the first-ever WNBA CBA in 1999.
However, the WNBPA also conceded a sunset clause, allowing teams to cease housing players earning a near-maximum salary after the first few years of the new CBA.
While the union appears open to shifting numbers, the proposal still demands a gross revenue sharing model, contrasting to the league's net model — a continued sticking point between the two parties.
"The Players Association's latest proposal remains unrealistic and would cause hundreds of millions of dollars of losses for our teams," the WNBA told ESPN in a statement.
"We still need to complete two Drafts, and free agency before the start of training camp and are running out of time. We believe the WNBA's proposal would result in a huge win for current players and generations to come."
WNBA star Breanna Stewart is heading back overseas, as Fenerbahçe Opet announced Monday that the New York Liberty forward will join the Turkish powerhouse ahead of the 2026 EuroLeague Women Final Six in April.
Taking place in Spain from April 15th through the 19th — days before WNBA players must report to team training camps for the 2026 season — the tournament will determine this year's EuroLeague champion.
The Unrivaled co-founder will first finish out her 3×3 run with the third-place Mist, with the offseason league's final set to tip off on Wednesday, March 4th.
Stewart is no stranger to competing for EuroLeague trophies with Fenerbahçe, with the forward leading the team to the 2022/23 title — and picking up the league's Final Four MVP award along the way.
Even more, that EuroLeague hardware was Stewart's second, after the star claimed the 2020/21 championship — and MVP honors — with UMMC Ekaterinburg.
This time out, Stewart will join a Fenerbahçe roster already stacked with WNBA talent, including Liberty teammate Emma Meesseman, as well as fellow All-Stars Kayla McBride (Minnesota Lynx) and Gabby Williams (Seattle Storm).
The Breanna Stewart signing raises CBA questions for the WNBA
The news of Stewart's overseas trip arrives at an interesting time, as ongoing CBA negotiations threaten to delay the planned 2026 WNBA season start.
The Liberty star's move also raises questions about prioritization rules, with the prior CBA requiring contracted players to rejoin their WNBA teams by the beginning of training camp or May 1st — whichever came later — or face a year-long suspension.
Prior to her European trip, Stewart will finish up the 2026 Unrivaled basketball season, with her 3x3 team Mist BC back on the court against the Lunar Owls at 9:15 PM ET on Saturday, airing live on truTV.
The WNBA made a collective bargaining move on Friday, with sources telling ESPN that the league submitted a new CBA proposal more than six weeks after the WNBPA's most recent counteroffer.
The proposal reportedly features updated housing provisions granting both minimum salary and rookie players one-bedroom apartments while developmental players get studios for the first three years of the WNBA CBA.
The news follows last week's in-person sit-down between WNBA leadership and union reps — including WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike (Seattle Storm) and first VP Kelsey Plum (LA Sparks), as well as fellow VPs Alysha Clark (Washington Mystics) and Breanna Stewart (New York Liberty).
Revenue sharing, however, remains a wedge issue for the players' union — one that Friday's WNBA offer apparently doesn't address — with athletes requesting 30% of gross revenue while the league has instead offered 70% of net revenue after deducting upgraded travel and facility expenses.
The impasse could ultimately delay the 2026 WNBA season — set to open in May — as well as both expansion and rookie drafts.
Plus, the ongoing CBA talks are keeping an historic free agency period on indefinite hold — one that impacts 80% of current players.
“We made the point that once we nail [revenue sharing], we can get everything else done," Ogwumike said.
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 Chicago Sky is under legal fire, as minority partner Steven Rogers filed a lawsuit last week alleging majority owner Michael Alter "breached his fiduciary duty to the minority investors" by devaluing the WNBA team for his own benefit.
The complaint claims that in 2022 — months after Chicago won their lone WNBA championship — Alter engaged in "opportunistic self-dealing," diluting minority shares in the lead-up to a 2023 funding round that saw MLB's Cubs owner Laura Ricketts buy into the team at an $85 million valuation.
In late 2025, Forbes ranked the Sky as the world's 12th most valuable women's sports franchise at $240 million — a significant turnaround from that 2023 valuation despite three consecutive losing seasons.
The current lawsuit also puts Alter's Chicago Sky leadership in the hot seat, accusing the commercial real estate developer of going rogue without a board of directors.
"As a business, Alter's operation has been a mess," reads the filing. "Throughout his tenure, Alter flouted the agreement's basic requirements and minimal standards for business operations."
Alter's legal representation countered with their own statement. "We are aware of the lawsuit filed last week by an early Chicago Sky investor. The lawsuit is completely meritless. We look forward to defending our case through the appropriate legal channels and believe this matter will be disposed of quickly. This matter will not affect the Sky's operations. Because this is active litigation, neither Mr. Alter nor the Chicago Sky will be commenting further."
The Chicago Sky will open their 2026 season by visiting incoming expansion side Portland Fire on Saturday, May 9th.
However, as the season nears and CBA negotiations stall, internal issues continue to overshadow what promises to be a pivotal year for the WNBA.