Although the WNBA collective bargaining negotiations remain stalled, NBA commissioner Adam Silver says he is “not ready to set a drop-dead date.”
At his NBA All-Star availability Saturday, Silver said he has not been at the negotiating table, but remains involved behind the scenes. Even if he was unwilling to identify a date that would save the WNBA from having to miss games, Silver did indicate that more urgency was necessary in the bargaining process.
The league has to conduct an expansion draft for two new franchises, the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo. The WNBA draft is scheduled for April 13, and training camp will likely begin on April 19, giving the WNBA about a two-month window to conduct all of its offseason business.
“What I’d love to accomplish is sort of putting pressure on everybody, and say, okay, you know, I’ve been through so many cycles of collective bargaining, and often things tend to get done at the 11th hour,” Silver said. “We’re getting awfully close to the 11th hour now when it comes to bargaining.
“We need to now move towards the next-level sense of urgency, and not lose momentum in terms of the amazing amount of progress we’ve seen in women’s basketball.”
WNBA players and the league had their most recent in-person meeting on Feb. 2, and the league submitted its latest CBA proposal that Friday. Revenue sharing remained the key battleground, as the union proposed a split of gross revenue and the league proposed taking expenses out before sharing the revenue with the players.
The newest proposal from the league doesn’t fundamentally change the revenue-sharing structure, though the WNBA is now offering a salary cap of $5.65 million, up from $5.55 million. The league is also engaging on minimum facility standards, though the owners would prefer to phase those in after 2026.
The biggest concession from the league has been regarding housing. A prior league proposal removed team housing based on the premise that salaries were increasing enough for players to handle that expense, per sources familiar with the negotiations. However, the WNBA is reintroducing housing for players on a minimum salary or with zero years of service through the 2028 season. The league is also offering studio apartments for developmental players. There would be a maximum of two per team.
WNBPA vice president Breanna Stewart expressed some optimism on her podcast “Game Recognize Game” about the latest updates in the CBA negotiations.
“There’s movement, there’s traction, we’re finally headed in a direction, so I’m excited,” Stewart said. “I’m excited to hopefully negotiate back, really kind of do the negotiations because unfortunately it’s been like 17-18 months that we haven’t negotiated, we’ve been just fighting.”
Silver echoed that positive sentiment Saturday. “I’m encouraged there has been more back-and-forth over the past few weeks,” he said. “There’s been more direct engagement from players and team owners.”
WNBA players traditionally participate in NBA All-Star festivities, including playing in the celebrity game. The Shooting Stars competition, which returned to All-Star Saturday for the first time since 2015, was originally conceived to include one WNBA player in each team of three. However, even as the WNBA lingers in the “status quo” period where conditions of the 2020 CBA take effect, none of its players were on the 2026 NBA All-Star schedule.