The Women\u2019s National Basketball Players\u2019 Association (WNBPA) opted out of their current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) over a year ago. Negotiations have been ongoing through the summer and into the fall, as they neared the original deadline of Oct. 31. That deadline came, and the league and players agreed on a 30-day extension, bringing the new deadline to Nov. 30. That was yesterday. As midnight approached, fans eagerly waited for an update.<\/p>\n
The update came around 11:45 pm \u2014 the sides had agreed to another extension, this time just under six weeks to likely account for the upcoming holiday season. The new CBA deadline is Jan 9, 2026.<\/p>\n
ESPN\u2019s Alexa Philippou provided an update on the WNBA\u2019s latest offer during Monday\u2019s episode of NBA Today, saying that there is still no update from the players on their reaction to these numbers. This is a new update after the proposal from a few weeks ago was rejected by the players because of the fact that the revenue-sharing part was not in line with what the players wanted.<\/p>\n
Another extension being locked in is definitely a good sign, and matches the timeline from the last CBA negotiations in 2020. That year, the sides agreed on a deal on Jan. 14, 2020. While another extension may seem like nothing is happening, it\u2019s a much better alternative to either side not agreeing to an extension at all and letting the contracts expire. In this scenario, it kind of signals that there is hope that a deal will come together eventually, and that there is progress being made in negotiations. If the sides were so opposed that they did not think an extension would do anything, they could instead head into a work stoppage, which won\u2019t happen under an extension.<\/p>\n
Both sides still have the option to cancel the extension and let the deal expire 48 hours from that moment if negotiations take a turn. If the deal does expire at any point, that does not automatically mean a strike or lockout starts. The deal would then go into \u201cstatus quo\u201d \u2014 where the terms of the previous CBA stay intact, but either side is then open to start conversations about a strike or lockout.<\/p>\n
So, now we turn our attention to Jan. 9, the new deadline. Despite being on track with the last CBA\u2019s timeline, the WNBA is a very different place in 2025-2026 than it was in 2020. These changes make it so that we are very likely going to have a very condensed offseason, with several of the items on the league\u2019s \u201cto-do list\u201d happening on a short timeline. It seems inevitable now for things to be rushed, and if the negotiations extend longer than Jan. 9, there is not much wiggle room before the 2026 season starts to be impacted.<\/p>\n
After a new CBA is agreed upon, there are several things the WNBA needs to get started on. Before anything else, they need to hold an expansion draft for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire, who are both entering the league in 2026. When the WNBA held an expansion draft for the Golden State Valkyries in 2024, they gave the team the rules of the draft with four weeks\u2019 time to prep for it, and gave them the league\u2019s list of protected players just 11 days before draft day.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s try and map out the rest of the WNBA offseason hypothetically, as if a CBA deal were reached on Jan. 9.<\/p>\n