WNBA Stars Raise 'Serious Concerns' About Union Leadership As CBA Standoff Drags On
Breanna Stewart and Kelsey Plum say WNBA players have been largely left out of CBA negotiations.
Back in January, I wrote that the Women's National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) had officially overplayed its hand in the WNBA's ongoing collective bargaining fight.
Nearly two months later, the situation somehow looks even worse.
With the league's reported March 10 target date for a new CBA fast approaching — and the 2026 season scheduled to tip off May 8 — two of the WNBA's biggest stars are now openly questioning how their own union leadership has handled negotiations.
According to multiple reports, WNBPA executive committee members Breanna Stewart and Kelsey Plum sent a three-page letter to the union's executive director, Terri Jackson, expressing what they described as "serious concerns about how the PA is handling the current negotiations, including the lack of adequate player involvement in the process."
Kelsey Plum and Breanna Stewart wrote a letter to the union's executive director expressing their concerns.
(Getty Images)
That alone is a stunning development. And an absolute contradiction to the narrative they've been feeding us for months.
To this point, the public messaging from union leadership has been that the players are unified, and the league simply needs to meet their demands. But this letter suggests something very different is happening behind the scenes.
Stewart and Plum wrote that they "do not feel like we have an adequate seat at the table in these negotiations" and called for "a changed dynamic between our PA administrators and the players."
Even more concerning, the two players said they've barely been included in negotiations despite being members of the executive committee.
They wrote that they have been "privy to details of these negotiations for less than two months, having first seen a proposal in January," adding: "Despite a year and a half of negotiations, we have not been meaningfully engaged."
Think about that for a second.
A year and a half of negotiations… and members of the union's own executive committee say they've really only been involved for two months. What on earth is going on here?
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Stewart and Plum also warned that players who have raised concerns internally have been made to feel like they're undermining the union.
"When we and other players have attempted to express concerns about negotiations, we have been made to feel as though we are acting against the interests of the PA," the letter states. "Many other players across the league feel these same frustrations and have expressed them to us, but feel afraid or unable to speak out."
It sounds a lot more like bullying than unity.
Even The Players Are Now Warning Against A Strike
In December, the players voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if necessary. But Stewart and Plum are now openly questioning that strategy.
"We need to start being pragmatic in these negotiations and in how decisions are being made," they wrote, adding they are "concerned about the impact that a standoff or work stoppage would have on the overall financial health of the league."
RELATED: Sophie Cunningham Calls WNBA A 'Laughingstock' As CBA Standoff Drags On
Plum echoed that sentiment publicly.
"I want to play, and players want to play," she 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."
Stewart agreed.
"I think that while we still are fighting for a lot of different things, we have to realize that the rev share is a win, especially just even coming from the 2020 CBA and the ones before that," she said. "Now, as the league makes money, we make money. And so when [Plum] talks about 'I don't think a strike is good for anyone,' because as the league loses money, or if we have a delay, we also lose money."
In other words, some of the league's most influential players appear to be realizing what should have been obvious from the start. A prolonged labor war would be catastrophic and self-sabotaging for a league that is finally — after nearly three decades of losing money — experiencing real growth.
The League's Latest Offer
Meanwhile, the WNBA has reportedly made another proposal in an effort to reach a deal.
According to reports, the league is offering a 2026 salary cap of $5.75 million — up from roughly $1.5 million last season — with the cap increasing to $8.5 million by the sixth year of the agreement.
Under that structure, maximum salaries would jump from roughly $249,000 to more than $1.3 million, while average salaries would increase from about $120,000 to $540,000 in the first year of the deal.
The main sticking point, though, is revenue sharing.
The league has proposed players receive roughly 70% of net revenue, while the union has continued pushing for a share of gross revenue. WNBA leadership is adamant that the model proposed by the players' association is simply not financially sustainable.
A Problem The Union Created
Whatever public support the players had at the beginning of this fight has dwindled away to nothing.
The WNBA is experiencing unprecedented momentum — driven largely by a new generation of stars and an influx of new fans — yet the league remains stuck in a labor standoff that's now threatening to jeopardize the upcoming season.
RELATED: Rebecca Lobo Warns WNBPA Is Losing Fan Support In CBA Fight
And the cracks within the union itself are starting to show.
When members of your own executive committee are sending letters raising "serious concerns" about leadership and warning against a strike, it's a pretty strong signal that something has gone off the rails.
And if this drags on much longer, the people who insisted they were negotiating from a position of strength may discover that leverage can disappear just as quickly as it appeared.