As the 2025 WNBA season rolls on, one of the consistent storylines will continue to be the ongoing CBA negotiations between the league and the WNBA Players Association. WNBPA president and Seattle Storm forward Nneka Ogwumike offered an update on negotiations with the current CBA set to expire at the end of the season.

As the league continues to enjoy its meteoric growth, she is continuing to publicly push for her colleagues' salaries to reflect that.

“We have women out here who know the business. And we understand where our league has been and where it's going,” Ogwumike said Sunday after her Storm defeated the defending champion New York Liberty. “And we're prepared. We're prepared. And we want to be able to come out here and represent ourselves and our value the same way we do on the court, in our contracts, in our facilities, in the standards of the resources that are available to us.”

In 2026, the league will begin an 11-year media rights deal worth more than $2 billion in total, and with ratings, attendance and advertising at an all-time high, player salaries are still lagging behind. With the WNBA's momentum gaining, Ogwumike is hoping to see changes.

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“Everybody wants to go to the same place. Everyone just has a different idea of how we get there,” she continued. “We've seen a lot of growth recently, so we have to see that being reflected in how we're compensated to continue to give you guys games like this every night.”

The WNBA has shown willingness to work with the players in the past, including most recently on rolling out charter flights league-wide. The previous CBA also led to a sizable pay increase for the players, including additional earning opportunities like the Commissioner's Cup. But the league has grown since then, buoyed by back-to-back popular rookie classes in 2024 (Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese) and 2025 (Paige Bueckers).

Ogwumike entered the league in 2012 and became WNBPA president in 2016, so she has seen how far the league has come. With two expansion teams set to join in 2026, there are about to be more eyes than ever on the WNBA.