Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers shared her thoughts on the WNBA’s ongoing CBA negotiations.
‘At this point, it’s not really a negotiation anymore. Both sides aren’t moving,’ Bueckers said. ‘So, I feel like we need to continue to have these conversations, continue to actually have change implemented for us to move on our stance.’
‘We as players, we don’t want a strike. We wanna have a season. I love playing basketball. That’s all I wanna do. But, again, there’s things that need to be handled, and we wanna do it as professionals.
On Monday, a source confirmed to USA TODAY that the WNBA submitted a counterproposal to the players’ union on March 1. The proposal was in response to the WNBPA’s Feb. 27 submission.
In Sunday’s proposal, the league offered to make first- and second-team All-WNBA players on rookie contracts eligible to sign a maximum contract in their fourth year. Those players would not be eligible for a core designation following that extension. A player on a rookie scale contract that earns MVP could similarly be eligible for a supermax deal.
The WNBA’s latest offer also increased the Year 1 salary cap to $5.75 million, up from $1.5 million in 2025. Based on conservative league projections, the salary cap would grow to roughly $8.5 million by 2031, the final year of the CBA.
The WNBA’s proposal also comes as WNBPA vice president and Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum viewed the league’s offer so far as a ‘significant win.’
‘I want to play, and players want to play,’ Plum said.
‘And so obviously we’re going to continue to negotiate and do everything we possibly can to get this done in a timely fashion. But obviously a strike would be the worst thing for both sides, because we are in a [revenue sharing system], so no revenue, no revenue to share.’