The WNBA's intense CBA negotiations are still ongoing, with no end in sight. Meanwhile, Seattle Storm veteran and WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike is front and center.
On Wednesday, Ogwumike openly criticized the league for its recent proposals, per Sabreena Merchant and Ben Pickman of The Athletic. The WNBA offered a $1 million guaranteed base salary. However, the current structure would enable the players to receive only a 15% share of the revenue.
Plus, that number would decrease over the span of the CBA. The WNBA's latest proposal includes a revenue-sharing model in which 50% would go to players, but how that would be established remains unknown.
Nevertheless, Ogwumike feels things aren't heading in the right direction, as both sides are in the middle of a 40-day extension.
“I don’t feel like there’s any cultivation of a culture of trust,” she told The Athletic on Wednesday. “We don’t feel valued in these talks as they stand today. … I feel like we’ve been heard, but not listened to. And I’m hoping that that changes in this 40-day extension, because what we want to do is get a good deal done.”
The extension on negotiations is set to expire Jan. 9. Among the other proposals the leagues have offered include cutting team housing and an earlier start to the season.
Nneka Ogwumike's history of advocacy work
Since becoming the WNBPA president, Ogwuimike has devoted herself to advancing social and political change, using the league's platform to do so. \
In 2020, she was instrumental in getting the original CBA agreement across the finish line. Among the protections included were higher player salaries and maternity benefits.
That same year, she joined her fellow competitors in supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and Get Out the Vote efforts in that year's election.
In 2024, she took over LeBron James' More Than A Vote Initiative.
