The July 4 weekend brought some proverbial fireworks towards WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart.
Collier, the 2025 MVP frontrunner, replied to a viral tweet which suggested that Unrivaled—the league she founded alongside her husband, Alex Bazzell, and New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart—would benefit from a WNBA lockout. Collier and Stewart are board members of the WNBPA.
“[Collier and Stewart] are the ones leading CBA negotiations? How do you negotiate in good faith?” wrote X user Evelyn DR, whose handle is @prettygirle2004, around 1 a.m. ET on Saturday.
The tweet had about 1.5 million views and more than 1,200 likes as of Sunday afternoon. (The poster initially labeled Stewart as the WNBPA president, a role held by Nneka Ogumike of the Seattle Storm, before making a correction in the tweet’s thread.)
Collier responded on Saturday afternoon, insinuating that a WNBA lockout would mean players would lose money.
“While everyone else was enjoying fireworks, you were thinking about how me and & Stewie of all people are conspiring to force a lockout that would result in less money year-round for WNBA players?” Collier’s tweet read.
Front Office Sports reporter Annie Costabile asked Stewart about the potential conflict of interest Saturday, and the two-time WNBA MVP said that WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson has not brought up any issues with the roles of the two Unrivaled cofounders.
“If [Jackson] was to think that it would be a conflict of interest, then she would let us know. But I don’t see how or why when we’re just trying to both uplift and amplify both leagues to play together,” Stewart said.
Unrivaled is the 3-on-3 women’s professional basketball league that played its inaugural season in January. The league has 30 roster spots and each player was paid a six-figure salary, while the average salary per player was more than $200,000. The minimum WNBA salary in 2025 is $66,079 while fewer than 25 players make an average annual value of at least $200,000, according to Spotrac.
The WNBPA is fighting for larger salaries for its next CBA, which would start next season if the two sides can come to an agreement. FOS reported Wednesday that the union rejected the WNBA’s first CBA proposal, sent over the prior week.
Satou Sabally, a union representative for the Phoenix Mercury, called the proposal a “slap in the face” when speaking to the media Tuesday.
Stewart said Saturday that the discussions between the two sides “haven’t even gotten to that point of talking about anything further than salary.”
FOS reporter Annie Costabile contributed to this story.
