The WNBA has proposed a 30-day extension to the Women’s National Basketball Player’s Association to continue negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement, multiple sources confirmed to Front Office Sports.
This comes as the Oct. 31 deadline approaches and after a week of heated exchanges between both parties.
According to one source with direct knowledge of the players’ stance, under the right circumstances the players might be willing to consider an extension.
“Those circumstances do not yet exist,” the source said.
In 2019 the WNBA and WNBPA agreed to a 60-day extension that led to the ratification of a new CBA in the new year, just in time for free agency. This time around, if both sides could reach an agreement within the next 30 days, it would put the league in a position to execute the expansion draft for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire in December similar to last year’s draft for the Golden State Valkyries.
If both sides do not agree to an extension, negotiations can continue in good faith without a CBA in place. However, this would open the door for a potential work stoppage in the form of a lockout initiated by the owners or a strike initiated by the players.
The league’s proposal comes after WNBPA senior adviser and legal counsel Erin D. Drake said no deal would be reached by Friday on The Athletic podcast No Offseason. Drake also characterized the league as lacking urgency.
In a statement to FOS in response to Drake’s claim, a league spokesperson said a proposal was made on Oct. 1 and the WNBPA responded to it on Monday.
Multiple sources told FOS the league’s most recent proposal included a supermax near $850,000 and a veteran minimum around $300,000. The proposed revenue sharing model would be similar to the current structure, which is only triggered if certain cumulative targets are hit. The revenue shared would only include league office revenue and not team revenue.
WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson told FOS last week that under the league’s proposed “fixed salary system,” the players would only get a “piece of a piece of the pie.”
