As each day passes by, the clock is ticking toward May 8, but the paperwork hasn’t finished yet. The WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association continue to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. But even after being at the table for more than a year, they are nowhere close to seeing eye-to-eye. So, naturally, uncertainty about the 2026 season has started to creep into conversations. However, amid all that tension, WNBPA vice president Napheesa Collier has offered a clear-eyed assessment of where things stand, and what it may take to move forward.

Speaking to USA Today recently about the ongoing CBA talks, Collier didn’t sugarcoat the reality of the negotiations. As per her, if the league and the players want to move forward, someone has to make a compromise.

“Well, someone’s gonna have to fold, aren’t they?” she said.

Still, at the same time, the five-time All-Star also made it clear that the players believe they are negotiating from a position of fairness.

“We don’t think, obviously, what we’re asking for is unfair, otherwise we wouldn’t be asking for it,” Napheesa Collier said. “But we understand it’s a negotiation, and I think we are trending in the right direction. But, we have to be able to stand strong in what we believe in and make sure that we are getting a fair cut in this pie that we are building together as a league and as players.”

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Her comments come just two days after the players’ union submitted a counterproposal in response to the league’s recent offer. 

Under the latest proposal, the WNBPA is now asking for 25% of gross revenue in Year 1 of the deal, which will increase over time to an average of roughly 27.5% across the life of the agreement. The union also proposed a salary cap of less than $9.5 million in the first year. That marks a step down from what they were asking for back in December, where they were demanding 30% of gross revenue and a cap of around $10.5 million.

Housing remains another area of concern for the players, but the WNBPA has signaled flexibility there. The union is willing to reduce team-paid housing benefits later in the contract, especially for players who are on big, fully guaranteed multi-year deals.

However, even when the players have compromised on their ask, the difference between what the league is offering and what the players want remains too big.

Even though the players push for a gross revenue sharing, the WNBA also remains firm on their ground and is pushing for approximately 70% of league and team net revenue. And that remains the main reason why they are failing to reach an agreement.

WNBA Pushes Back on Napheesa Collier & Co’s “Unrealistic” Proposal

Soon after the union’s latest counterproposal, the league went on to issue their stance. They have made it clear that giving the players what they are asking for will result in unsustainable losses over the years.

“The Players Association’s latest proposal remains unrealistic and would cause hundreds of millions of dollars of losses for our teams. We still need to complete two Drafts and free agency before the start of training camp and are running out of time. We believe the WNBA’s proposal would result in a huge win for current players and generations to come,” the league said in their statement.

So while Napheesa Collier knows a compromise is the need of the hour, neither side is willing to budge just yet. Still, the desire to compete hasn’t wavered.

“I hope people just remember that we want to be out there, too,” Collier further added. “This is our livelihood. This is our job, our passions, what we love to do most in the world. We want to be out there… Just be patient with us. Keep supporting us, and we’re gonna get there.”

However, with each day they fail to find common ground, the possibility of the upcoming WNBA season getting delayed becomes more real. And if they don’t reach a deal soon, several key league operations could face disruption. They include:

• An expansion draft for the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire
• Free agency
• Collegiate draft could be pushed off schedule

With a season hanging in the balance, the timeline is no longer theoretical. Now the question isn’t whether both sides need to compromise, it’s whether they can reach that compromise soon enough to keep the WNBA on track.