The WNBA offseason is heating up as the league and players’ union race to finalize a new CBA before the October 31 deadline. With over 100 players set to hit free agency in 2026, many are waiting to see if the new deal brings bigger paychecks before signing beyond 2025. The big question remains — will it?

The Athletic’s Ben Pickman reported that the latest proposal came on October 1, but the union responded only weeks later, on October 27, effectively stalling progress.

According to reports, this proposal included a maximum salary of $850,000. The presented approaches from both sides increased player salaries manyfold. But there’s still a wedge dividing the two.

• The WNBPA demands to rework the WNBA’s current system. They want a new salary framework that also ties to the league’s business, giving them a percentage of the total revenue generated, as in leagues like the NBA.
• The WNBA wishes for a status quo and has proposed a revenue-sharing system similar to the current CBA. According to this, there is a fixed salary cap and additional revenue sharing. The latter will only happen if league revenue exceeds certain targets.

The WNBPA’s October 2024 opt-out was a bold move for fair pay, better benefits, and authentic revenue sharing. Led by Nneka Ogwumike, players united behind long-term equity over short-term gains. A year later, talks have stalled, tensions are rising, and with just two days left before a possible lockout, the league has made a last-minute offer to keep negotiations alive.

Update on CBA deadline: As per ESPN, the WNBA and WNBPA agreed Thursday to a 30-day extension of the current collective bargaining agreement through Nov. 30.

It isn’t the real deal, but a possible pause to prevent the lockout. But the league stands its ground.

“We have been negotiating with the Players Association in good faith and with urgency for several months to finalize a new collective bargaining agreement as quickly as possible,” shared the league’s spokesperson in a statement to The Athletic. “Throughout this process, we have been clear that our top priority is reaching a new collective bargaining agreement that addresses players’ ask for significant increases in pay, benefits, and enhancements to their experience, while ensuring the long-term growth and success of the league and its teams…

“The Players Association has yet to offer a viable economic proposal and has repeatedly refused to engage in any meaningful way on many of our proposal terms. We stand ready to continue negotiating in good faith and hope they will do the same so that we can finalize a mutually beneficial new CBA as quickly as possible.”

Throughout the negotiation period, the WNBPA had remained steadfast in finding a middle ground. However, Erin D. Drake, senior advisor and legal counsel for the WNBPA, had an opposing stance to what the league has claimed.

“In a dance, it takes two to tango. And it has been difficult to find a beat… to find the same sense of urgency (from the league), just to be frank, to get this done,” Drake told The Athletic in Tuesday’s episode of the No Offseason podcast

Considering everything, a lockout isn’t fruitful for either party. If the CBA isn’t agreed upon, everyone will be left with three options:

• The WNBA and the WNBPA could agree to extend the negotiations, delaying the deadline until a further date, as Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has mentioned previously,
• The two parties could let the CBA expire and discuss the future in the status quo,
• There is also a possibility that if the CBA does expire and nothing fruitful comes out of it, a work stoppage might happen. The owners could lock out the players, or the players could go on strike.

However, a lockout would leave players, including Caitlin Clark and 155 others, uncertain about future salaries, benefits, and structural changes heading into 2026. Moreover, the 2026 season could be delayed due to the postponement of the trade openings.

Additionally, with two expansion teams—Portland and Toronto—scheduled to debut, the league has more work to do. Notably, last season, the Valkyries’ draft was held in December, but if a lockout looms, everything would be delayed.

So, an extension and continued negotiation seem to be the only way to get through.

But will the players agree to it?

Last October, when the WNBPA pulled out of the current CBA, president Nneka Ogwumike called it a defining moment. As the league’s growth surged, the players outlined their desire for an equitable economic model. Yet, 12 months have passed, and there’s still no sign of a new agreement in place by the October 31 deadline.

Still, the players are firm in their demand. As executive director Terri Jackson puts it, “[The players are] really quite clear and laser focused on what they’re fighting for, … and what they said a year ago was true six months ago, was true six weeks ago, six days ago,” she told ESPN earlier this week.

And the ask remains the same—not just a significant salary increase, but a change in the underlying system.

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The league, however, seems nowhere near that point. “The league’s response has been to run out the clock, put lipstick on a pig, and retread a system that isn’t tied to any part of the business and intentionally undervalues the players,” shared Terri Jackson, rebuking Adam Silver’s framing of the players’ financial demands.

If you ask the union, the league’s late-response tactics may be aimed at cornering the players into accepting unfavorable terms. But both parties are still working to find a middle ground. They’ve got more time to negotiate into November or beyond, whether through a lockout or an extension. For now, all eyes are on whether this latest proposal can buy them time – or if the WNBA’s biggest offseason will become its most uncertain one yet.