WNBPA Vice President Breanna Stewart isn’t mincing words anymore. With the clock ticking to reach a new collective bargaining agreement with the WNBA, the negotiations may have reached a breaking point, as the players’ union vice president openly called for NBA commissioner Adam Silver and deputy commissioner Mark Tatum to step in if progress continues to stall, because what they are doing “isn’t really working.”

Speaking to reporters this week, Stewart made it clear that players feel boxed into a stalemate, with little movement from the league despite months of talks. And with the January 9 deadline looming after a second extension, Stewart believes outside leadership may now be necessary.

“More often than not, we’re the ones that are willing to compromise, and they still aren’t budging,” Breanna Stewart said as per Front Office Sports. “So if they are not going to budge, we’re going to get to this point where we’re going to be at a standoff. That’s kind of where we’re at right now.”

She further added, “What we’re doing right now isn’t really getting us anywhere. If that means Adam and Mark need to come to the table, we’re more than happy to have that.”

This comes after the NBA commissioner publicly expressed optimism earlier this week, saying he believes there is still a “constructive path” toward a deal and that the league is willing to help finalize an agreement. But Stewart’s remarks paint a far less hopeful picture from the players’ side, one that has also been echoed recently by Kelsey Plum, who described negotiations as “disheartening.”

With almost a year into the negotiations between the players’ union and the league, at the center of the impasse is the league’s proposed economic model. While the WNBA has floated a plan that includes a $1 million max base salary, a higher team salary cap, and a revenue-sharing framework that would still leave players with a relatively small slice (15%) of total league revenue, the union has pushed back with a proposal seeking a significantly larger percentage (30%) of overall basketball-related income.

But even with the two sides far apart, Napheesa Collier, the co-founder of Unrivaled with Stewart, has also made it clear that the players are willing to do “whatever it takes.”

Beyond salaries, the WNBPA is also advocating for structural changes – expanded rosters through developmental spots, elimination of the core designation, improved parental leave, mental health reimbursement, and better staffing standards.

“We know as players how important it is to play and to be on the court,” Breanna Stewart added. “But at the same time, if we’re not going to be valued the way that we know we should be, in the way that every kind of number situation tells us, then we’re just not going to do something that doesn’t make sense.”

With negotiations entering their most critical phase, the players’ patience is wearing thin. They’re prepared to hold their ground if meaningful change doesn’t follow, even if they risk a lockout, in case they don’t reach a mutual agreement, which will definitely affect the league, including the expansion draft, free agency, and the WNBA draft.

As CBA talks stall, Breanna Stewart points to Unrivaled’s fan-backed success

With the second season of Unrivaled, a 3×3 league set to kick off on January 5 in Miami, it serves as a direct reflection of what women’s basketball can achieve when players are genuinely invested. Founded in 2023 by Stewart and Collier, it was built around a simple idea: a league built by and for women’s basketball players.

In the inaugural season of this league, players saw 221,000 viewers on average across TNT Sports and truTV, reaching 11.9 million total viewers. The championship game peaked at 364,000 viewers and 385,000 fans. But why has it attracted so many players, with nearly 75% of WNBA athletes signed to multi-year contracts? The answer is simple: better pay and being valued!

Unrivaled is paying players an average salary north of $200,000, with increases already planned for 2026. On top of base pay, the league offers prize money through in-season tournaments, including $50,000 per player for championship teams, along with a revenue-sharing model that gives athletes access to a 15% league equity pool. Whereas in the WNBA, player salaries range from a rookie minimum of roughly $66,000 to supermax contracts approaching $250,000, with the league-wide average sitting just above the $100,000 mark.

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And for all the success this 3×3 league has seen, Breanna Stewart credits it to the audience that showed up early and consistently.

“We care about this game, and we care about really growing it and valuing our players,” Stewart told reporters during Unrivaled’s December 17 media day. “And you see that’s what we are doing. I think that I’m just really proud of and excited by the fact that not only are Phee (Napheesa Collier) and I, and everybody who’s behind the scenes at Unrivaled, seeing this vision, but also the players.”

While Unrivaled was initially created as an offseason alternative for players who previously had to go overseas to supplement their income, its rapid growth has introduced a new layer to the conversation. If the WNBA fails to deliver a proposal that makes players feel properly valued, leagues like Unrivaled could continue to expand their role, reshaping how elite women’s basketball is viewed.