Happy Basketball Wednesday, presented by The BIG EAST Conference. As the women’s basketball world awaits the response from the WNBPA to the most recent proposal put forth by the league, it is important to understand exactly why this negotiation is so fraught.
Basketball Insider
As we’ve covered in this space for many years, the biggest change is that there’s a massive increase in the amount of money at stake. That has first-order effects like figuring out both how much more of this new revenue should go to the players and critically, how that formula is created and implemented over time.
But it also reflects and alters the view from within the stakeholders on both sides, the intramural debate within the league and the players alike.
Let me provide you with a PSA: anytime you hear someone assert confidently that this is what “the owners” or “the players” think, you can ignore anything that follows. There is not a single camp in either of those disparate groups.
From the players, there are, as we’ve discussed, zero-sum outcomes to the way Terri Jackson and the PA have approached these negotiations. Effectively, to try and maximize the complete package, then build out who gets what in a second step pits differing player interests against one another, with elements of any new CBA like the salary cap’s growth potentially either harming the max salary or, more likely, making it more difficult for teams in practice to keep veterans in the so-called middle class over time.
The longer this negotiation drags on, by the way, the more pressure there will be on the faction of the PA most affected by any changes to go along with an agreement if it is reached with precious little margin for error to get expansion drafts, free agency and a college draft done in time to start the season.
This is why, even among the Executive Committee, there is a wide variety of desire to strike or strike a deal. And if you’re keeping score at home, while it takes a simple majority of the EC to declare a strike, a source familiar with their deliberations told The IX Sports that functionally, short of a unanimous consent, the EC would not call for a strike. “Not really how our leadership operates,” this person explained.
Similarly, Cathy Engelbert has held together the ownership groups which, again, not only vary by stake — 42% going to NBA owners, 42% going to WNBA owners and 16% going to those who bought into the capital raise — but by affordability tolerance for growth as well. (We won’t even get into the fact that those three groups themselves are permeable, with some owners in two or even all three of those buckets!)
But put it this way: if you think “the owners” are in the same place financially, whether we’re talking about Michael Alter or Mat Ishbia, the latter described to The IX Sports by a source in the room as the most supportive owner of player concerns, you are not paying attention.
All of this is concerning if you want there to be a 2026 WNBA season, own a calendar and understand the linear nature of time. It doesn’t make finding a resolution intractable. But hopefully it helps to illuminate why this has dragged on for as long as it has.
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This week in women’s basketball
Jenn Hatfield on Madison St. Rose.
Jackie Powell with her Marina Mabrey crashout jar story is pure delight.
Jordan Robinson and Autumn Johnson bring the fire, always.
Love Staphanie Kaloi’s first dispatch from Athletes Unlimited.
And here’s Lindsay Gibbs speaking with Elizabeth Williams.
“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is available now!
Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible.
Five at The IX: Kaitlyn Chen
(Make sure to listen to our interview with Kaitlyn at the 25-minute mark.)
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