The new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBA) still remains without resolution. Months after the supposed end of the WNBA’s CBA, there is a third extension to the agreement.
The latest deadline for the CBA was Jan. 9, and it ended without an agreement. After the WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Player’s Association (WNBPA) were unable to reach a consensus, the WNBPA released a statement stating how the WNBA, “fail[ed] to meet us at the table with the same spirit and seriousness” and “jeopardiz[ed] the livelihoods of players and the trust and investment of fans, all in the name of preserving regressive provisions that no longer belong in women’s basketball.”
Players fighting for higher salaries, more health benefits, investments and better working conditions for the league began to opt out of the CBA in Oct. 2024. The CBA expired on Oct. 31, 2025, and a new CBA is long overdue.
In Jan. 2025, WNBA players Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewarr founded Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 women’s basketball league. Unrivaled gives WNBA players the option to play during the off-season, and they also receive 50% of revenue shares and equity.
In an interview with ESPN, Collier said that Unrivaled and “other opportunities just give us more leverage basically to make [the WNBA] do the right thing and to pay us what we’re owed.”
Nneka Ogwumike, President of the WNBPA, announced that she would join a new professional basketball league for both men and women, called Project B, in November 2025. This made Ogwumike the first player to join Project B.
Project B will launch in November 2026 and will be played in Asia and Europe. 66 players will play in the league, including WNBA players like Sophie Cunningham and Jonquel Jones. Project B will pay players significantly more money than the WNBA or Unrivaled.
In July 2025, before the WNBA All-Star Game, players wore “Pay Us What You Owe Us” T-shirts. When WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert handed Collier the WNBA All-Star Game MVP trophy, fans chanted, “pay them.”
In September 2025, Collier called out Engelbert for her poor leadership and support of the players. Collier said “nothing has changed” during a preseason media availability regarding Unrivaled.
The WNBA and WNBPA have been unable to reach an agreement because the WNBPA wants higher minimum and maximum salary caps. The WNBA’s latest offer consisted of 50 – 70% of the league’s net revenues going to the players. But the players’ union instead sought a specific percentage of the WNBA’s gross revenue to be distributed to players.
Due to the disputes between the two parties, both the WNBA and WNBPA agreed to a moratorium on free agency. The moratorium also disrupts the expansion drafts for the two new organizations coming to the league, Portland and Toronto, as well as the college draft scheduled for Apr. 13.
Assuming the new CBA is settled in time for May 8, the start of the WNBA season, WNBA teams will each play 44 games, with a 17–day break for the Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) World Cup. The FIBA World Cup is scheduled from Sept. 4–13, with the WNBA’s break spanning from Aug. 31 to Sept. 17.
In the league’s 29-year history, the WNBA has never had to delay the season due to labor issues. But if the CBA is not agreed upon and disagreement continues to keep up, the 30th WNBA season will be the first to be delayed.
