After months of failed negotiations and rising tensions, the WNBA and players union met for the first time in 2026 earlier this week to continue discussions to reach a new collective bargaining agreement. However, the two sides found they still have significant gaps to overcome. They left the meeting reportedly without much — if any — movement toward compromise as the season looms about three months away.
It begs the question: Where is the urgency?
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The last formal CBA proposal from either party was submitted by the Women’s National Basketball Players Association at the end of December. Even as the extension to the CBA lapsed and the normal offseason calendar was set to begin with the qualifying offers and core designations, there had been no progress toward scheduling new meetings or offering meaningful amendments to the existing proposals.
Movement was supposed to come at Monday’s session, but again, there were no new proposals and plans for another sit-down. Instead, per sources familiar with the negotiations, the union is still waiting for a WNBA response, as five weeks have passed without an indication of whether they’ll receive a counter.
Stalling is a tactic. It can be effective in negotiations, even in a monumental labor fight such as this one. However, this negotiation is 15 months in. The WNBA has two drafts and a free agency period to conduct, as well as a massive television deal to uphold. Dragging their feet as a negotiating ploy would have been suitable earlier in the process, not when the league is actually missing out on scheduled offseason events. Free agency — which includes several league stars this offseason — should have started this week.
The WNBA is riding an unprecedented wave of goodwill after a period of rocketing growth. The players are more visible and supported than ever. Both sides need the conversation to return to basketball instead of the protracted labor dispute.
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They’re having a staring contest when they should be drumming up interest in the WNBA’s 30th season, a significant achievement considering the precarious position the league was in just a few years ago.
The time for discussing sentiments and philosophies instead of concrete details has passed. A process that began in October 2024 should be further along than defining progress as the sides deign to sit down in person with one another. But both sides are seemingly content with the pace of negotiations, even as the WNBA and its players are missing out on an opportunity to continue the league’s momentum and grow its fan base.
“All of women’s sports, I think this is one of the biggest moments we’ve ever had,” Caitlin Clark said on NBC’s Basketball Night in America Sunday. “We’re in this moment because of the product we put on the floor, so we need to be able to continue to do that.”
A return to the court starts with a resolution on revenue share. Both sides have proposed significant salary increases and a pay structure that is tied to revenue growth: The latest WNBA proposal included an average salary of $530,000 and a max salary of $1.3 million in Year 1 of the deal. The players’ most recent offer included an average salary of more than $800,000. A rift remains, however, over what constitutes revenue and how to divide the overall pie.
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Furthermore, several other issues still require attention, including housing, minimum standards for facilities and benefits for retired players. However, the negotiations can’t turn to those items until a salary structure is agreed upon. And when it comes to salary, it seems as if the two sides are speaking fundamentally different languages about how they evaluate the business of the WNBA.
This has resulted in a situation in which, per sources familiar with the talks, the league didn’t feel it necessary to respond to the players’ most recent proposal because it didn’t see sufficient changes, despite the players union’s insistence that it has tried to make concessions.
If the WNBA and union had come to an agreement by the end of the second extension on Jan. 9, consider what the league’s alternate timeline would have looked like. The rest of January would have been spent preparing and staging an expansion draft for the two expansion teams in Toronto and Portland. There would have been a celebration of the league’s growth to 15 franchises and intrigue over how the Tempo and Fire chose to build their inaugural rosters.
The beginning of February would have been the launch of free agency, which could be the most frenetic such period in league history, as more than 100 players are unrestricted free agents. The NBA is in its own transaction season with Thursday’s trade deadline and has become the talk of the sports world, even during Super Bowl week. The WNBA could have commanded its own piece of the national conversation in what is guaranteed to be an exciting free-agency window. The conclusion of free agency would allow eyes to turn back to college basketball in time for the postseason in March, or perhaps to World Cup qualifying tournaments.
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WNBA players also normally participate in the NBA All-Star celebrity game. None are in the 2026 iteration on Feb. 13. Although I have issues with the inclusion of active professional basketball players in an event as unserious as the celebrity game, it is a popular stage to showcase the WNBA. When Golden State hosted the event in 2025, Kayla Thornton of the expansion Valkyries was on the celebrity roster, a notable tie-in for the new franchise.
In the actual timeline, WNBA teams are still waiting for the first step. The expansion draft might coincide with March Madness, forcing front offices to multitask between that and their final draft scouting trips. Free-agency news will have to share the spotlight with tournament basketball and even the transfer portal, which opens after the national championship. Further delays could switch the order of the offseason calendar if the WNBA wishes to maintain the April 13 college draft date.
Assuming enough time is allotted to free agency and the expansion drafts, the part of the schedule that would suffer the most could be training camp. The WNBA already has a shorter training camp relative to other professional leagues; trimming it further — which is often the case when schedules are condensed in pro sports — would diminish the quality of play to start the regular season and likely increase the risk of players getting injured.
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The league and the union have eschewed a work stoppage thus far, preferring to negotiate in good faith. Calling for a strike (initiated by the players) or a lockout (initiated by the owners) would change the working relationship between the two parties, as the players and owners would be prohibited from contacting one another away from the bargaining table. Neither action would fundamentally alter the course of what is to come — the season is already in jeopardy if a deal is not agreed upon, whether that includes a work stoppage or not.
Right now, the status quo lingers on, and nothing has spurred a change toward a resolution.
As the league and the players association stand their ground in negotiations, it’s unclear if the gains they hope to realize are worth sacrificing the product in 2026.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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