WNBA Players Opt Out of CBA; Sides Have 1 Year to Reach New Contract Before Lockout

WNBA players opted out of their collective bargaining agreement with the NBA, setting up the possibility of a lockout if a new deal isn't agreed upon by the conclusion of the 2025 season, according to ESPN's Chiney Ogwumike.

Both WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson and league commissioner Cathy Engelbert released statements on Monday:

Ogwumike reported that the player demands were expected to be "establishing a new economic model that is truly more creative and ensures player wages better reflect the growing business. They also hope to build upon professional standards that are set by teams like New York, Seattle, Las Vegas, Phoenix, all of whom have state of the art practice facilities. And of course they hope to expand lifelong benefits for players, including retirement and family planning."

Ogwumike also reported that the WNBPA was "preparing to take as long as necessary" to see its demands addressed, an indication that a future lockout is very much a possibility.

The WNBA recently entered into a $200 million-per-year broadcasting agreement with Disney, Amazon Prime and NBC that will last for 11 years. The league also announced in September that it "delivered its most-watched regular season in 24 years, finished with its highest attendance in 22 years and set records for digital consumption and merchandise sales in 2024."

With the league booming in popularity—and its players highly critical of the compensation model, travel accommodation and other benefits in the past—Monday's news was expected.

Seattle's Gabby Williams, who spent the first half of the 2024 season playing overseas rather than in the WNBA before returning for the second half of the campaign, spoke in late September about the wage issues:

"The [WNBA] thinks that they don't have to pay us more in order for us to be here," she told reporters. "And I think I didn't express that when I first talked about prioritization. Our commissioner talked about us being able to make $700,000. That's actually not true at all. There's not one player who makes that. We were promised two marketing agreements, and legal marketing agreements, but they've fallen quite short. So it's still not enough for us international players to want to stay here. ... The WNBA, if you want us to be here, you have to pay us more. It's business, it's how it works."

Las Vegas' Jackie Young had the league's highest contract value in 2024 at $252,450. Caitlin Clark, the WNBA Rookie of the Year and one of the players directly responsible for the league's huge spike in popularity, made just $76,535 in WNBA salary this past season.