Players unite, led by Nneka Ogwumike, as stalled CBA talks and potential work stoppage loom. The league's silence fuels urgency for a revenue-sharing agreement.
The WNBA Players Association gathered its members in Nashville this week for a players-only meeting led by union president Nneka Ogwumike, as negotiations with the league remain stalled and the threat of a work stoppage continues to linger.
The meeting came on the heels of a key in-person bargaining session on Monday in New York, where WNBA leadership failed to present a formal counterproposal to the union’s December CBA submission.
However, Annie Costabile of Front Office Sports reported on the delegations' visit to the city while the union waits for a response from the league.
Ogwumike said the absence of a league response immediately set the tone for what was expected to be a pivotal discussion.
“They volunteered that they did not have a proposal prepared at the top of the meeting,” Ogwumike told Front Office Sports. “That kind of set the tone for the conversation because we were hoping to hear otherwise.”
Negotiations between the WNBA and the WNBPA have been at a standstill for weeks, despite multiple deadline extensions following the expiration of the previous collective bargaining agreement in late October.
While the league has indicated it plans to formally respond to the players’ December proposal, no timetable has been provided. And that's what prompted Sophie Cunningham to call it a laughingstock.
That uncertainty has kept pressure squarely on both sides as the calendar moves closer to the 2026 season.
“After the meeting today, [a strike is] still on the table,” said Alysha Clark, a WNBPA vice president, following Monday’s talks. Clark later clarified that the union has not reached the point of mapping out a work stoppage, emphasizing that meaningful negotiations cannot resume without a league response.
Monday’s meeting lasted roughly three hours and marked the first in-person bargaining session in several weeks. Ogwumike was joined by executive committee members Brianna Turner and Clark, while Breanna Stewart, Kelsey Plum, and Napheesa Collier participated remotely due to travel issues.
On the league side, commissioner Cathy Engelbert attended alongside members of the labor relations committee, with Clara Wu Tsai and Joe Tsai also present. Sources familiar with the meeting said players and owners spoke directly during the session, underscoring the seriousness of the moment.
At the center of the impasse is revenue sharing. The union’s December proposal calls for players to receive 30 percent of gross league revenue, a figure the league has thus far resisted.
The WNBA’s most recent framework includes a guaranteed $1 million maximum base salary beginning in 2026, with the potential to reach $1.3 million through revenue-sharing mechanisms. That would be a significant jump from the current $249,000 max, but players have made clear that revenue participation remains their top priority.
“The sooner it gets to a WNBA season, we’re prepared to do it — to not play,” Stewart said on her Game Recognizes Game podcast. “But we don’t want to. We want to play.”
With free agency already paused, expansion plans delayed, and the 2026 season potentially at risk, the league’s long-awaited response now looms as the next critical step. Until it arrives, the WNBPA appears unified, organized, and increasingly vocal about what it is prepared to do if talks continue to stall.