From high-stakes negotiations in New York to a stunning coaching change in the A-10, the landscape of women’s basketball is shifting rapidly. CBA negotiations between the WNBA and the WNBPA are still ongoing, but that has not stopped Caitlin Clark from mapping out her next season. Meanwhile, in college basketball, VCU has moved on from its most successful coach ever.

Critical CBA Meeting Ends With No Proposal From WNBA

The league and the players’ union met in person for the first time since the fall to discuss a new collective bargaining agreement ahead of the 2026 season. While the three-hour meeting was considered productive, the league did not make an offer.

“They volunteered that they did not have a proposal prepared at the top of the meeting,” Nneka Ogwumike told Front Office Sports. “That kind of set the tone for the conversation because we were hoping to hear otherwise.”

Six weeks ago, the union submitted a counterproposal to the league’s CBA offer, pushing for a $10.5 million salary cap and a revenue-sharing structure that would allocate 30 percent of gross revenue to players. The league’s proposal included a $1.3 million maximum salary and an average salary above $530,000, with figures tied to a model that deducts a percentage from combined team and league revenues.

While the league did not formally respond to the proposal and labeled it highly unrealistic, the three-hour meeting appears to have moved things forward. After sitting down in person with union president Nneka Ogwumike, vice president Alysha Clark, treasurer Brianna Turner, and Stefanie Dolson, along with others on Zoom, the league has finally decided to draft an official response to the offer.

No one knows what the offer will look like or if it will be enough, but Caitlin Clark is not waiting around and has already set her goals for next season.

Caitlin Clark Has Team USA in Her Sights

Caitlin Clark played just 13 games last season in the WNBA, and with uncertainty still hanging over the league, there is a real chance she may not even get to showcase her game on the court. Despite that, Clark remains optimistic. On Sunday, during her appearance as a special contributor on NBC’s Basketball Night in America, she shared how she had changed over the years.

“It’s funny because I was just looking back at some old videos from when I was at Iowa, and I can tell how much my body has changed, but I think in a good way. You have to be stronger. It’s a much more physical league. And then, obviously, I only appeared in 13 games last year,” Clark said.

She continued, “More than anything, I’m just itching to get back out on the court and feel like myself again. I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work, and I’ve got USA Basketball coming up, so I’m looking forward to that too.”

After making her Team USA senior training camp debut last month, Clark is now chasing her long-awaited senior team debut after missing out on the Olympic roster. And yes, we are all excited to see her rock the USA colors.

End of an era as VCU let go of Beth O’Boyle

It is never easy to see a coach lose her job, but it hurts even more when a program is forced to part ways with its winningest coach because of recent results. That is exactly what happened with the VCU Rams women’s basketball program, which made the difficult decision to let go of head coach Beth O’Boyle after starting the season 8–15 overall and 4–7 in Atlantic 10 play.

“We want to thank Coach O’Boyle for her service to VCU and her dedication to our student-athletes,” athletic director Ed McLaughlin said in a statement. “We will not renew her contract, and she will not coach the remainder of the season. We wish her all the best in her future endeavors. We will begin a national search immediately.”

In her 12 seasons at the helm, Boyle amassed a school-record 191 wins.

Under O’Boyle, the Rams captured the regular-season Atlantic 10 title in 2019 and later earned a conference tournament championship and NCAA Tournament berth in 2021. After going 7–22 in 2022–23, VCU responded with a 26-win season the next year, the largest turnaround in the nation to date.

There was plenty to like about VCU under O’Boyle, but the results ultimately were not trending the way the program had hoped, leading to the decision. The program has not yet named a new head coach. At the moment, assistant coach Kirk Crawford is set to serve as the interim for the remainder of the season.