WNBA: Can NWSL's new CBA serve as a model for the WNBPA?

On Labor Day, it’s worth asking, “What’s the future of labor in the WNBA?”

When the current collective bargaining agreement was signed in early 2020, it widely was hailed as a path-breaking, progressive agreement that provided more equity and empowerment for players. Nearly five years later, however, the agreement seems outdated and insufficient. Protections for players who are mothers, one the CBA’s signature benefits, have been shown to be inadequate, or at least inadequately enforced, by the experiences of Skylar Diggins-Smith and Dearica Hamby. The prioritization clause, which forces players to “prioritize” their WNBA team over overseas opportunities or face financial penalties, quickly came under criticism.

While the current CBA expires in 2027, either the WNBPA or league can choose to opt out by Nov. 1 of this year, which would move the CBA’s expiration date to Oct. 31, 2025. From the outside, it’s hard to imagine the players not electing to opt out, despite the challenges of negotiating a new agreement within a year. Not only have players voiced frustrations about the limitations of the current deal, but the NWSL’s recent CBA also introduces new desires and demands that, in a moment where women’s sports, especially women’s basketball, are experiencing unprecedented growth, players would be right to push for.

Could the WNBPA seek to incorporate some of the more player-first features of the NWSL’s agreement, which includes no drafts, trade vetos, workload management provisions, universal unrestricted free agency and all guaranteed contracts?

No drafts The 2024 WNBA Draft invitees pose with Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images

The dominant headline from the NWSL’s new CBA is the elimination of both the college and expansion drafts, meaning free agency serves as the sole method for teams to build rosters. By axing drafts, the NWSL is adopting the roster-building model used by global soccer leagues, rather than by professional sports league in the United States. Or, more precisely, used by men’s professional sports leagues in the United States.

In American sports culture, the often unstated but widely understood metric of success for a women’s professional sports league is how closely it approximates the men’s professional league in the same sport. The NBA has drafts so the WNBA must have drafts. And since 2.45 million people watched the 2024 WNBA Draft, all must be well. But, is that true? Especially for individual players? As the NWSL shows, there’s another path, one that possibly better prioritizes the experiences of women athletes, rather than assuming that imitating the experiences of male athletes is best.

The majority of highly-drafted NBA players are entering a world of security, with the life-changing money making up for the potential negatives of being drafted by a poorly-run organization, being forced to move to an unfamiliar place far from family or any other challenges. Even for WNBA lottery picks, getting drafted comes with precarity. Your contract is not guaranteed and the team that selected you might not have open roster spots, but you’re still expected to immediately relocate to your new city. The possibilities imagined on draft night quickly can turn into anxieties for all but the most privileged rookies.

Allowing rookies to enter the WNBA via free agency would give players some control over their future. It is a means of talent distribution that prioritizes the player experience (allowing players to find an organization that they believe will invest in their success) over the entertainment product (producing a televised draft that attracts a record number of viewers and social media impressions).

Player veto power for trades Myisha Hines-Allen was the most prominent player traded at the 2024 WNBA trade deadline. Photo by Kate Frese/NBAE via Getty Images

In addition to no drafts, NWSL players will exercise further control over their careers through the ability to veto trades. Players must consent to trades, protecting them against in-season or offseason surprises that could disrupt their lives, both on and off the field.

For The IX Newsletter, Howard Megdal spoke to the Dallas Wings’ Satou Sabally, co-chair of the WNBPA’s CBA Committee, about this provision. She shared:

It’s refreshing in a player sense, because you can actually make some family [plans]. You can actually plan on where you want to be. But... I don’t know how it would look in the WNBA, but I think it’s really interesting. So I will follow it in a in a soccer league, and see how it goes.

Load management provisions Satou Sabally is the co-chair of the WNBPA’s CBA Committee. Photo by Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images

In speaking to Megdal, Sabally also highlighted her interest in the load management policies included in the NWSL’s CBA, which regulate game frequency and require a midseason break. The rising popularity of women’s sports in the United States comes with temptations, namely more money through more games. Next season, the WNBA is scheduled to play a record 44 games. But, the desire to “grow the game” cannot excuse the exploitation of players. NWSL players have agreed to protections against overuse, and Sabally seems inclined to push for similar policies in the next WNBA CBA. She told Megdal:

I’m not a fan of back-to-backs. I know that these are sometimes necessary, but I do think back-to-back games are just not really beneficial for athletes. And then I feel like there can’t be really a discussion around player load and management.

All unrestricted free agency Gabby Williams is a 2025 WNBA free agent. Photo by Mollie Handkins/NBAE via Getty Images

Under the NWSL’s previous CBA, there was unrestricted and restricted free agency, with a player’s free agency status based on their years of service. Now, all players will enter unrestricted free agency when their contracts expire.

The WNBA has unrestricted and restricted free agency, as well as reserved players. Teams also can core one player, which prevents that player, often an unrestricted free agent, from signing a new contract with another team. While cored players can be traded to a new team, the designation essentially works to keep players on their current team. Restricted and reserve free agents, likewise, are limited in their ability sign with a different team. A restricted free agent, meaning a player who has completed her rookie contract, can sign a contract with a different team, but their current team has the right to match any contract, and thus retain their services. Reserved players, those on an expiring contract with three or fewer years of service, only can negotiate a new contract with their current team.

The WNBA’s free agency advantages the teams, with mechanisms and classifications that discourage player-driven movement. Universal unrestricted free agency and the elimination of cored players would, in contrast, would favor players, empowering them to use their truly free agency to contract with organizations committed to investing in players and their well beings.

Guaranteed contracts for all players Breanna Stewart is on an unprotected contract with the New York Liberty. Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images

Under the NWSL’s new CBA, all player contracts are guaranteed. In the WNBA, each team is allotted six protected contracts, meaning a maximum of six players per team—72 league-wide—are guaranteed to earn their full salary, even if they are waived. All other players are on unprotected contracts, subject to the immediate termination of their contract if they are waived.

Expanding the number of protected contracts, if not making all contracts protected, should be a priority of the WNBPA. However, such a development likely would require sacrifice from the league’s high-salary and high-status players. In a sports culture that tends to privilege the most popularity personalities, will the WNBPA seek gains for the league’s upper-echelon or for all 144 (and soon to be 156 and then 168) players? Does the league and union want to brag about the increasing salaries for the league’s biggest names? Or, are all parties committed to creating a more equitable league for every player, regardless of the number of clicks they generate or corporate sponsorships they’ve signed?

The previous CBA favored the elite, as the league and union emphasized the increase in player salaries by highlighting that, through various bonuses, the highest-paid players could approach $500,000 in compensation per season. That headline number overshadowed the fact that rookie scale and veteran minimum salaries remained rather piddling.

The New York Liberty found a partial solution to the disparity between players’ contracts. Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu—two players who would be expected to demand protected contracts—signed unprotected contracts. Stewart and Ionescu recognized the security they have as well-paid stars who will not be waived and agreed to allow the organization to allot protected contracts to more of their teammates. Stewart, a WNBPA Vice President, has expressed her intention to be heavily involved in the upcoming negotiations, an encouraging indication that an appreciation of the greater good will prevail.

These are not the only considerations the WNBPA will carry into negotiations for the next CBA. There’s enshrining charter flights, expanding the size of rosters, modifying prioritization, softening the salary cap, strengthening protections for mothers, providing pensions for retirees and more. The union appears prepared to maximize the leverage players have earned due to the league’s growth, establishing a five-person advisory council of highly-credentialed individuals from academic, legal, financial and entertainment sectors to provide guidance.

In speaking to The New York Times, WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike reflected on how players’ perspective has evolved, from gratitude for the opportunity to play professional basketball in the United States to grasping their right to demand what they deserve:

I personally experienced more players perhaps making decisions out of fear of losing something so special, and being very grateful for whatever few or little resources were being allotted to the W. That was in my first couple of years. From that, I’ve learned that we have way more power than we actually understand.