INGLEWOOD, Calif. – As the WNBA and the players’ union continue negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he is not ready to set a deadline to ensure that the WNBA season will begin on opening night as scheduled on May 8.
However, he urges both sides to act with a new sense of urgency.
“What I’d love to do is put pressure on everybody,” Silver said at his annual press conference at NBA All-Star Weekend. “Often, things get done at the 11th hour. We are getting very close to the 11th hour when it comes to negotiations.”
For the first time since December, it is believed that talks are going in the right direction, although they are still progressing slowly.
“I’m excited that there’s been more back-and-forth over the last few weeks,” Silver said.
Silver clarified that he was not at the negotiating table, but was involved behind the scenes.
“I want to play any role that will be most useful in closing a deal,” Silver said. “I think we need to move now to the next level of sense of urgency and not lose momentum in terms of the amazing progress we have seen in women’s basketball.”
In response to the union’s proposal in December, the league sent a new proposal on February 6. The league’s latest proposal reportedly included concessions on housing and facility standards but did not include any significant changes in revenue sharing.
The league has proposed that players will, on average, receive more than 70% of net revenue, defined as revenue after deducting expenses. Its latest offer includes a $5.65 million salary cap in 2026 (up from about $1.5 million in 2025), and it will increase in subsequent years in line with revenue growth.
In its previous proposal, the maximum salary, including revenue share payments, was projected to be $1.3 million in 2026 and reach $2 million in 2031. The Supermax came in at $249,000 in 2025. The average player salary, including revenue sharing, was projected to reach $540,000 in 2026 and $780,000 by 2031, up from $120,000 in 2025.
The players, meanwhile, have proposed a salary cap of $10.5 million and want to receive 30% of gross revenue – defined as revenue – before expenses are deducted.
Multiple sources told ESPN that the league estimated that the union’s plan would result in a $700 million loss over the course of the agreement and would put the league’s financial health at risk. However, the union believes its revenue sharing model still puts the league in an “advantageous position,” a separate source close to the talks said.
A source told ESPN that the WNBPA has not responded to the league’s most recent proposal. In December, the WNBPA player body gave the executive committee the authority to call a strike.
Last week, executive committee treasurer Brianna Turner told ESPN that she believes a strike, “is not imminent at this point.”
“It’s early February, like, we’re still going,” he said. “So, I feel like we’re still in the waiting game right now.”
