This winter will be one of the most important offseasons in the history of the WNBA. The W is expanding, adding two new expansion teams ahead of the 2026 season. There are also the ongoing collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations between the league and the player's union. Those negotiations got an unfortunate update on Tuesday.
The WNBA and the WNBPA are “extremely unlikely” to reach a new CBA agreement by Friday's deadline, per The Athletic's Ben Pickman.
Erin D. Drake, senior advisor and legal counsel for the WNBPA, spoke with The Athletic on Tuesday’s episode of the “No Offseason” podcast. She shed more light on these negotiations.
“We have worked hard to be able to say on Friday, we did it. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen,” Drake said. “In a dance, it takes two to tango. And it has been difficult to find a beat, to find a rhythm, and to find the same sense of urgency (from the league), just to be frank, to get this done.”
Both sides had a hard deadline of October 31st to reach a new CBA agreement.
Could the WNBA be facing a potential lockout before of the delays in these negotiations?
WNBA insiders not panicking despite likely missed CBA deadline
WNBA insiders are not panicking despite the inevitability of missing Friday's CBA deadline.
ESPN's Kendra Andrews and Alexa Philippou explained on Wednesday that both sides could agree to an extension of that October 31st deadline.
“While I hope we make the October 31st deadline, and that is a real deadline from that perspective, we have extended deadlines in the past,” commissioner Cathy Engelbert said during the WNBA Finals.
One unnamed source also told ESPN that they did not believe a work stoppage is in the cards for the WNBA.
“In the end, a work stoppage doesn't benefit anybody,” the source said. “I don't know exactly how far people are off. But generally, when I've seen these things, usually as it comes closer to crunch time, everybody kind of moves a little bit closer together, and we can get to a deal that's reasonable enough.”
Hopefully both sides can agree on a new CBA as soon as possible to avoid a potential lockout.
Perhaps the situation will become more clear on October 31st.
