WNBA & The WNBPA Have Reached A Deal

After 17 months of the hardest fought labor battle in women's professional sports history, the WNBA and its players just reached a deal that changes the game — forever.

It happened in the early hours of Wednesday morning — a handshake, a champagne toast, and the sound of 17 months of tension finally exhaling. The WNBA and the Women's National Basketball Players Association have reached a verbal agreement on a landmark new collective bargaining agreement. The 2026 season will start on time. And nothing will look the same.

This wasn't just a labor negotiation. It was a reckoning. Players who wore "Pay Us What You Owe Us" shirts at the 2025 All-Star Game weren't just making a statement — they were serving notice that the era of a billion-dollar league running on near-poverty wages was over. Today, they proved it.

Let's be direct about what these numbers mean. Under the previous CBA, the league minimum salary was $66,000 a year. Not a typo. The women playing in the best basketball league in the world were earning less than many entry-level desk jobs. The new minimum is above $300,000. That is not incremental progress — that is a structural transformation.

The salary cap jumps from $1.5 million to $7 million per team — a nearly 5× increase. Average player compensation is expected to sit around $600,000, with supermax deals starting at $1.4 million. For the first time in the league's 30-year history, there will be million-dollar WNBA players. Let that sink in.

"For the first time, player salaries are tied to a truly meaningful share of league revenue, driving exponential growth in the salary cap, increasing average compensation beyond half a million dollars."

— Nneka Ogwumike, WNBPA President

Perhaps most importantly, the new deal ties player salaries to a genuine share of league revenue — approximately 20% on average across the term of the agreement. That means as the WNBA grows (and it is growing fast), the players grow with it. No more watching the league sign an $2.2 billion media deal while their own checks barely covered rent.

Union leadership was clear throughout negotiations: this deal had to work for every player, not just the stars. And based on what's been reported, that's exactly what they fought for. The new agreement raises standards around housing, facilities, staffing, and player support. It expands resources for family planning and parental leave. It addresses the grinding, unglamorous conditions that players have complained about for years — the substandard locker rooms, the commercial flights while male counterparts charter, the absence of basic professional infrastructure.

This deal didn't happen overnight. It took 17 months, more than 100 hours of bargaining in the final week alone, and a level of player solidarity that had never been seen in women's professional sports. Here's the road that led to this morning.

This CBA lands at the exact moment the WNBA is experiencing the greatest growth surge in its history. The league just launched a new 11-year, $2.2 billion media rights deal with Disney, Amazon and NBCUniversal. Attendance broke records last season. Three more expansion teams — in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia — have paid $250 million apiece for the right to join. The Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo tip off their inaugural seasons this May.

The players watched all of that happen. They watched their jerseys sell out. They watched their games draw record viewership. They watched franchise valuations explode. And they asked, correctly, where their share was. Today, they got an answer.

"We opted out because what we were giving to this league and what we were getting back didn't match. You could feel the growth everywhere, but it wasn't showing up for the players the way it should."

— Alysha Clark, WNBPA Executive Committee

What Happens Next

Wednesday's announcement is a verbal agreement — the formal term sheet is expected in the next day or two, followed by ratification votes from both the players and the WNBA's Board of Governors. But the hard part is done. Both sides called this historic, and for once, that word earns its use.

The WNBA calendar now kicks into overdrive. The expansion draft for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo needs to happen first. Then free agency opens — with over 80% of the league's players currently unrestricted, expect the most chaotic, star-studded free agency period in league history. The 2026 Draft follows on April 13. Training camps open April 19. The 30th season tips off on May 8.

For fans, what this means is simple: the best basketball in the world is about to get better, and the women playing it will finally be compensated like the professionals they've always been.

Watch Her Play will be covering every move of the 2026 offseason in real time.

From expansion draft picks to free agency signings, from Draft Day to Opening Night — this is the most consequential WNBA offseason ever, and we're not missing a moment of it. Find tickets, follow your teams, and stay connected to every game at watch-her-play.com.

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