Negotiations between the WNBA and WNBPA on the latest CBA were nothing controversial. After an initial deadline of October 30, both sides agreed to extend the date twice. It is now set for January 9, 2026, which threatens to delay the league’s expansion draft and standard season start date.
WNBA faces disaster as collective bargaining continues
The salaries proposed by the WNBA in its latest proposal look promising. The highest paid players in the league are expected to make a $1 million baselinewhile its lowest paid players would take home a minimum of $220,000. However, these figures are accompanied serious conditions are attached: The league would push the start date of the season earlier in the year and no longer provide players with guaranteed accommodation and require certain rookie players to attend a mandatory draft or see their salaries cut in half. The league still isn’t conceding in any meaningful way either THE question of the point of friction – income sharing – which would be located at the 15 percentup from 9 percent of the current CBA.
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Along with these developments, we can track the rise of off-season leagues: Unrivaled, Athletes Unlimited, and the new Project B. Off-season leagues, typically used by players to supplement WNBA income, now promise salaries that match or eclipse current WNBA compensation, offer equity in their respective leagues, and have attracted serious WNBA talent.
Vinyl vs. Mist – Unmatched 2025 | Rich Story/GettyImages
Unrivaled is set to launch its second 3v3 season with the addition of two new teamsgoing from an inaugural roster of 36 spots to 56 while offering players a starting salary of $222,222. Athletes Unlimited, which begins its fifth season of 5-on-5 play in February, lasts only four weeks but offers 40 spots with salaries between $30,000 and $40,000; this year, the league estimates that approximately 70 percent of these spots will be filled by WNBA players. The most recent model of off-season play is Project B – an international 5-on-5 league with teams competing in seven two-week tournaments in major cities around the world – which offered players a starting salary of $2 million and has already attracted big names including Nneka Ogwumike, Alyssa Thomas, Jonquel Jones and Jewell Loyd, among others.
The WNBA has reached an inflection point: meet the demands of the WNBPA or face the potential consequences of a major exodus of talent, which would not only diminish the league’s competitiveness and entertainment value, but also tarnish its reputation as the best organization in the country, if not the world, for women’s basketball.
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Why NBA history should serve as an object lesson
New York Nets Larry Kenon | George Gojkovitch/GettyImages
Where the WNBA stands now after 28 seasons is strikingly similar to where the NBA stands after 25 seasons. After establishing itself as the premier basketball league in the United States, the NBA faced a threat to its basketball dominance: the American Basketball Association (ABA). The ABA proposed a new type of basketballone with a 30-second shot clock, a three-point shot and an eye-catching red, white and blue ball. But above all, they offered the players more competitive salaries.
Star players of the era, such as Rick Barry, ditched the NBA for a $30,000 pay raise, while new talent chose to completely outperform the NBA. Mel Daniels, for example, joined the ABA for an annual salary of $36,000, compared to $12,000 for the NBA.
New York Knicks vs. Milwaukee Bucks | Vernon Biever/GettyImages
The NBA had to adapt, and it did. According to the New York Postthe NBA reportedly helped subsidize marquee player Kareem Abdul-Jabaar’s $250,000 salary when he joined the Milwaukee Bucks in 1969. Ray Patterson, the Bucks’ owner at the time, told the Post that “(League funds) helped us save the franchise and helped the NBA compete with very dynamic and resourceful ABA owners who had accumulated an enormous amount of dynamic talent.”
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Even though the league was would apparently not make a profit in the 1970s, she knew that talent retention was the basis of long-term success; THE average salary in 1970 was $90,000, the equivalent of about $770,000 today. To go further, the NBA successfully merged with the ABA in 1976, adopting four teams that have since become household names in the NBA: the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets and San Antonio Spurs. We can see the historical shadow of this moment in the current WNBA CBA negotiations.
Although players are at the heart of any league, they too are at the mercy of market forces. They probably don’t share the same loyalty to the league as the fans. As the lockout looms, the WNBA faces real existential risk. The NBA knew that players would play in the league that valued them the most. It’s time the WNBA came to the same conclusion.
This article was originally published on www.fanside.com under the title What the WNBA can learn from the NBA’s first collective bargaining negotiations.
