They say good things take time, and nowhere is that more true right now than in the W. The current WNBA CBA was supposed to expire on Oct. 31, after the players’ union opted out of the deal in 2024. Instead of wrapping things up, negotiations dragged on… and on… until both sides extended the deadline all the way to January 9, 2026. It’s been a long, frustrating wait for players and fans, but with the WNBA’s latest offer on the table, it feels like we might actually be inching toward the finish line at last.

Just a day after the WNBA and the players union agreed to extend the current CBA through Jan. 9, the league has reportedly come back to the table with a fresh proposal that would significantly boost player compensation. According to WBB reporter Khristina Williams, the WNBA’s latest offer looks like this:

• Starting in 2026, max players will receive a guaranteed $1 million base salary, with the chance to push their earnings up to around $1.2 million through revenue sharing.
• The offer also bumps the league’s minimum salary to over $225,000 and pushes the average salary past $500,000.
• The offer also increases the league’s minimum salary to over $225,000 and boosts the average salary to more than $500,000.
• Under the proposal, the salary cap would rise each year based on the league’s annual revenue growth

The WNBPA hasn’t commented on the new proposal yet, but it’s clearly a major upgrade from what the WNBA was offering before — and one that could realistically be accepted by the union, especially when you consider how many issues the previous offer had.

The Previous WNBA CBA offer

Earlier this month, the league put forward a proposal that would have allowed players on maximum-level contracts to earn more than $1.1 million per season, combining their base salary with a revenue-sharing component. Multiple sources later confirmed that the offer left the players union frustrated, as several of the numbers in the proposal were reportedly misleading.

The actual supermax base salary would still fall between $800,000 and $850,000 a year. The $1.1 million figure reflected a combination of base pay plus possible revenue-sharing bonuses, meaning no player in 2026 would actually sign a contract with a $1.1 million base salary under that proposal.

And then there’s the revenue-sharing model, which is really at the heart of these entire WNBA CBA negotiations. The WNBA has often highlighted “potential earnings” to create the perception of higher salaries. Back in 2022, commissioner Cathy Engelbert even said that under the league’s pay structure, a top player could make up to $700,000 a year, which sounded huge compared to the base supermax at the time.

But for a player to actually reach those numbers, a lot has to go right. They’d not only need to hit the bonus targets built into the 2020 CBA — things like All-Star selections or winning a championship — but also secure a Player Marketing Agreement (PMA). But most star players chose not to sign PMA’s, since the agreements limited how much they could make from their own name, image, and likeness.

The 2020 CBA did include a revenue-sharing system, but it never really had a chance to function. Players were supposed to earn a percentage of “excess revenue” once the league hit specific financial targets. The problem?

Those targets were cumulative starting in 2020… the same year COVID shut the world down and slashed revenue across sports. Because of that, the thresholds were never met, revenue sharing was never triggered, and instead of salaries growing alongside the league’s rising popularity, the salary cap increased at a flat 3% per year — regardless of how much momentum the W was building.

Will the WNBPA Accept the WNBA’s Latest CBA Offer?

The players have been very vocal about wanting a real, functional revenue-sharing model, and while the latest offer does promise that salaries will rise each year as the league grows, we still don’t know the actual numbers behind it. Until those details are public, there’s always a chance the offer includes hidden conditions, just like the W’s previous proposal.

Fans online have argued that the league might lean on something similar to PMAs to help players reach that projected $1.2 million max salary. And then there’s the salary-cap math, which has become a major talking point. The WNBA is promising a $5 million team cap while also suggesting teams could carry multiple max contracts. If roster sizes stay at 12, that puts real pressure on the remaining salary slots — and it likely means most players would still earn far below the “average salary” of $500,000 that the league has claimed.

So there are still plenty of questions surrounding the current offer, and whether the union accepts the latest WNBA CBA proposal will become clear in due time. What do you think? Should the WNBPA accept this offer? Let us know in the comments down below!