WNBA, Players' Union Reportedly Unlikely to Agree to New CBA Before Friday Deadline

The deadline for the WNBA and the Women's National Basketball Players Association to reach a new collective bargaining agreement is quickly approaching, but it appears that there has been little progress toward a new deal.

Per The Athletic's Ben Pickman, Erin D. Drake, senior advisor and legal counsel for the WNBPA, said on Tuesday's episode of the No Offseason podcast that it's looking unlikely that a new CBA will be reached by Friday's deadline.

"We have worked hard to be able to say on Friday, we did it. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen," Drake said. "In a dance, it takes two to tango. And it has been difficult to find a beat, to find a rhythm and to find the same sense of urgency (from the league), just to be frank, to get this done."

Pickman noted that while meetings between the two sides will continue this week, they "remain widely divided on the wedge issue of revenue sharing and how that framework would impact player salaries."

Under the current CBA, the players play under a fixed salary cap, and additional revenue sharing is based on whether league revenue exceeds certain targets. According to Pickman, the WNBA wants to keep that structure in place, while the WNBPA "has proposed a salary framework tied to the WNBA business, in which player salaries are linked to a percentage of the revenue generated by the league."

"The players are so stalwart in their commitment to having a transformational CBA, and it's our job to get it done," Drake said. "Labor peace is where we want to be, but we're not going to get there by being taken advantage of. The players aren't going to get there by hearing, 'maybe next time, again.' The time is now, and we're willing to do what needs to be done to get there and move back into the zone where we can really put on an amazing product and have people feel that their value is being reflected in the way that they are paid and the money that they're getting."

There's a chance that the WNBPA and WNBA could agree to an extension, which would postpone the deadline, but if the CBA expires without one, the league could be looking at a work stoppage through a players' strike or a lockout.

"We're still going to be negotiating until we get this negotiation done," Drake said. "We just don't know how long that is going to take, unfortunately. I pray, I believe in miracles. I'm not hopeful that (agreeing to a deal by Friday) is going to come to fruition."