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 and the WNBPA are literally coming to the table this week, with both parties meeting in-person on Monday as stalled CBA talks continue to delay offseason movement prior to the 2026 season.
WNBPA executive committee members Nneka Ogwumike (Seattle Storm), Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx), Breanna Stewart (New York Liberty), and Kelsey Plum (LA Sparks) will attend Monday's CBA negotiations in New York alongside WNBA, team, and union leadership.
"I think we'll learn a lot from this meeting," WNBPA first VP Plum said from the Unrivaled tour stop in Philadelphia on Friday. "I think everyone understands what's at stake, timeline-wise."
The two parties reportedly remain far apart on wedge topics like revenue sharing, three months after the previous CBA expired.
According to sources, Monday will mark the first full CBA meeting between the WNBPA and WNBA in over a month, with offseason transactions currently left in limbo while other league operations continue under a status quo mechanism.
"At the end of the day, we're human beings. I think conversation face-to-face goes a long way," Plum continued. "To be able to sit down face-to-face and say, 'This is how I feel, this is how you feel, let's see what we can do from there.'"
"I'm just excited for the opportunity to be able to be there in-person with other players that are really invested in this," Plum added.
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.
Months after Napheesa Collier set the WNBA ablaze with her viral exit interview criticizing league leadership, the Minnesota Lynx star said "nothing has changed" at the front office level as CBA negotiations stall.
"The conversation has been had now [and] people are seeing that changes need to be made," Collier said this week from Miami, where Unrivaled 3×3 is gearing up for its second campaign.
"I feel confident in the [union] and where we are internally with our players and the future," she continued.
In her October press conference, Collier publicly called the WNBA front office "the worst leadership in the world," putting commissioner Cathy Engelbert in the hot seat amid tense CBA negotiations with serious implications on next season's play.
The league and the WNBPA are currently sparring over revenue sharing, with diverging compensation expectations further distancing the two sides.
"Obviously, there's frustration in that both sides are trying to get what they want, but we still have that fire within us that we're willing to do what it takes," Collier said. "We're going to do whatever it takes to get what we think we deserve."
As talks drag on, Collier sees Unrivaled — the offseason 3×3 league she co-founded with New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart — as fueling the players' fight.
"Us being here in December and January until March, it's a crucial time in the CBA," Collier acknowledged.
"Having us all in one place is beneficial," she explained. "To have players congregate in that way, where you can have those in-person conversations and updates like that, that does help to get things moving more quickly."
Tensions remain high between the WNBA and WNBPA, after The Athletic reported on Monday that the latest CBA proposal from Players Association more than doubles the league's revenue share offer — suggesting a deepening rift in negotiations.
The union outlined a deal that would give players around 30% of total WNBA and team revenue — a significant leap from the league's proposed 15% share.
According to sources, the WNBPA also suggested linking the salary cap to the previous season's total revenue, factoring in player benefits and the number of teams in the league.
The move intends to undercut an accusation from the WNBA that the players have yet to put forward an economically viable revenue sharing model.
The union's proposal begins at 29% of the prior season's total league grosses, then grows to 34% by the final year of the CBA with a one-time adjustment for the new 11-year, $2.2 billion WNBA media rights deal.
Notably, the league recently rejected a flat 33% revenue share CBA proposal, prompting this week's 1%-per-year increase system in response.
It's clear that the WNBA office and the WNBPA are at odds, but the union is showing their work as both sides strive for a CBA that will keep players on the court in 2026.
As WNBA CBA negotiations rage on, revenue sharing continues to be a wedge issue for both sides of the table, with the league office and the WNBPA eyeing the terms of the most recent proposal from differing viewpoints.
The Athletic reported on Wednesday that the WNBA believes it has offered the revenue-sharing salary model that the players have pushed for throughout the CBA talks, leaving athletes to claim 50% of the "sharable" portion of league revenue.
How the WNBA will determine the "sharable" cut is uncertain, though sources claim the compensation structure on offer will result in players taking home less than 15% of the league's total earnings.
That percentage is likely to take a further hit over the lifetime of a new CBA, according to the league's multi-year earning projections.
"I don't feel like there's any cultivation of a culture of trust [in the CBA talks]," WNBPA president and Seattle Storm star Nneka Ogwumike told The Athletic. "I feel like we've been heard, but not listened to, and I'm hoping that that changes in this 40-day extension, because what we want to do is get a good deal done."
Parental leave, draft combine, and more enters the WNBA CBA talks
Along with the issue of revenue sharing, the latest WNBA offer also reportedly outlined other proposals, such as the institution of a required offseason draft combine, the elimination of team housing, and the possible extension of the competition calendar by starting earlier and/or finishing the season later.
As for the WNBPA's Tuesday counteroffer, the players union is seeking to eliminate the core designation and shorten the current four-year rookie contract to three years.
The WNBPA is also asking to add non-birthing parental leave, retirement benefits, and reimbursements for mental healthcare.
The WNBA and WNBPA will meet again to negotiate sometime this week, with talks racing toward the second-extension deadline of January 9th, 2026.
The WNBA and WNBPA agreed to a second CBA extension late Sunday night, officially pushing the contract's deadline to January 9th, 2026, to allow for 40 more days of negotiations.
Like the original CBA extension from October 31st to December 1st, either the WNBA or WNBPA now has the option to terminate the agreement with 48 hours of notice.
"We expect substantive movement from the league within this window," the players union told Front Office Sports, while the WNBA issued a statement saying both parties are "continuing to work toward a new agreement."
While total annual compensation offers have reportedly crossed the million-dollar mark for players earning the league's maximum, the WNBA's salary model — particularly in regards to revenue sharing — remains a core issue.
According to sources, the WNBA's proposal offers players a revenue-sharing option only after reaching certain minimums, while the WNBPA continues to advocate for a bigger cut of the exponentially growing league.
The players union is also reportedly advocating for a salary cap that increases with the league's income, rather than at an arbitrarily fixed growth rate.
With important offseason processes like the planned two-team expansion draft to stock incoming 2026 WNBA franchises the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo now delayed until a new CBA is in place, the pressure is approaching new highs on both sides of the negotiating table.
The WNBA has put a new CBA offer on the table, a source told the Associated Press late Tuesday, with the league proposing to raise the maximum player salary to more than $1.1 million while also implementing a new revenue-sharing plan.
The league is targeting a minimum salary exceeding $220,000, boosting the average salary to over $460,000 in the first year of the agreement.
The CBA offer would apply to more than 180 WNBA players upon initial ratification, with paydays continuing to scale upward over the life of the contract.
The WNBA and the Players Association recently agreed to extend talks from the existing CBA's original October 31st expiration to November 30th, a similar move to the previous CBA negotiations in 2019, which finally settled in early 2020.
In accordance with that prior deal, this past season's minimum salary ranged from $66,079 to $78,831 depending on terms while the maximum salary was $214,466 — meaning players averaged $102,249 league-wide.
In response to significant league growth, the WNBPA opted out of that CBA earlier this year to push for a more lucrative revenue-sharing model as well as increased salaries, better benefits, a less rigid salary cap, and other improvements.
The pressure is on to settle on a new CBA before the latest deadline, with a potential work stoppage threatening to derail a league exploding in popularity.
"When it comes to things like renewals and partnership opportunities, sitting here with an uncertain labor negotiation, it's already having an impact on the basketball calendar and the business," a source told ESPN this week.
The WNBA and WNBPA might have 30 more days to negotiate, with sources telling ESPN late Tuesday that the league has formally offered an extension on the pair's October 31st CBA deadline.
With no agreement currently in sight and mounting rumors of a possible work stoppage, the proposed extension would allow bargaining to continue without interruption.
The action comes with precedent, as both parties agreed to a 60-day extension during the last CBA negotiation in 2019, with the deal later finalized in January 2020.
In response to the offer, ESPN reported that "players might be willing to consider an extension 'under the right circumstances' but they feel 'those circumstances do not yet exist.'"
The WNBPA did see an extension offer coming, with union senior adviser and legal counsel Erin D. Drake telling The Athletic on Tuesday, "We have worked hard to be able to say on Friday, we did it. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen."
Increased public scrutiny has fueled tensions around key issues on the negotiating table like revenue sharing and salary structure, with the league claiming that the WNBPA hasn't yet offered a viable counterproposal while the union accuses the WNBA of undervaluing players and delaying meaningful engagement.
"We urge the Players Association to spend less time disseminating public misinformation and more time joining us in constructive engagement across the table," a WNBA spokesperson told ESPN.
With Friday's CBA deadline fast approaching, the WNBPA could feel pressure to accept the extension offer from the WNBA — though kicking the can down the road doesn't always guarantee progress.