PHILADELPHIA – With a potential strike looming, players’ frustrations and concerns brewing and the WNBA collective bargaining agreement negotiations stuck at an impasse, several star players and league and union officials are scheduled to meet in New York Monday to discuss CBA matters.
WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike and other key union leadership members including Kelsey Plum and Napheesa Collier are among the players scheduled to attend. Other WNBPA leadership, the WNBA’s labor relations committee, some owners and members of the league’s Board of Governors are expected to participate in the high-stakes, in-person meeting that some believe could be an inflection point in negotiations.
Regardless of what happens Monday, Azura Stevens, an eight-year WNBA veteran, said she’s “prepared to” strike.
“If the league wants to play around and we don’t have a CBA, I have money. I’m getting paid from Unrivaled and I have other revenues of income as well,” Stevens said Friday after shootaround ahead of Unrivaled’s tour stop in Philadelphia. “So, it’s really their loss. So, that’s why I think that it’s just ridiculous that they’ve dragged it on this long.”
The league has yet to respond to a proposal submitted by the union more than 30 days ago. Part of the reason why the WNBA hasn’t engaged in the response is because the league is waiting for a more “realistic” proposal, according to ESPN.
With the 2026 season scheduled to start in fewer than 100 days, some players are irked by the lack of progress.
“Honestly, I’m just kinda upset, frustrated – all of us,” said Natasha Cloud, who didn’t hold back her emotions. “And in a lot of ways, just like disgusted with the ‘W’ and how they’re handling this and their lack of value, their lack of worth for us, their lack of even trying to attempt to move the needle with us.”
The union has been bracing for a potential strike since players opted out of the former CBA after the 2024 season.
But the uncertainty regarding the WNBA’s near future has some players on edge, including Sug Sutton.
“It’s a level of concern, a level of unknown, and I don’t like to be in that position,” said Sutton, who was signed to a veteran minimum contract in 2025. “So just trying to take it day by day. Being at Unrivaled has helped with the mental part with the ‘W’ and everything that’s going on.”
The current CBA expired Jan. 9 after the two sides failed to reach a deal or agree to a third extension.
The WNBA is operating in status quo, which is why the 2026 schedule was released last week. A moratorium, though, has put free agency on hold indefinitely.
In the latest known proposal, the WNBA has offered players 70 percent of the net revenue share, which equates to roughly 15 percent of gross league and team revenue, and a $5 million salary cap. But players are seeking roughly 30 percent of gross revenue as well as a $10.5 million salary cap.
The union also is fighting to remove the core designation and to keep team-funded housing – something the league has proposed taking away – among other things.
“It’s a few things that, you know, can stress players out in a sense,” Sutton said. “And that’s why I said, like, there’s so much unknown and uncertainty with what’s going on in the league and the CBA but we’re just hoping for the best.”
Cloud sat in a chair up against the back wall of the press conference room Friday afternoon. While other player interviews had dispersed, Cloud’s continued on and her emphatic answer to The Post’s CBA question commanded the attention of the room.
She said players are adamant about what they’re fighting for in this new deal.
“We know what is on the horizon,” she continued. “There’s a new TV deal that’s going to come that they’re not even putting on the table for us. The percentages, if we actually told you the percentages of what they’re giving, that they’re sending to us, it would absolutely piss y’all off.”
Cloud then looked directly into a TV camera and said, “We will not f–king move until y’all move… So, the pressure is on the WNBA, on Cathy [Engelbert], on Adam [Silver], on everyone that is in that front office. You do your job, negotiate, and pay your people, your players, your workers. This is a major corporation thing here in our country right now. So, pay the people that make your s–t go.”
Plum remains optimistic a deal can be reached and the season won’t be delayed.
“I don’t necessarily have expectations for outcomes [of Monday’s meeting],” Plum said. “The thing is just sitting down and understanding the relationship and conversation is No. 1 because let’s be real. When we play telephone with people in our own lives, a lot of times things can get scattered, right? So 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 go from there.’”
