{"id":343562,"date":"2025-12-13T23:51:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T23:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/343562\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T23:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T23:51:11","slug":"caitlin-clark-wnba-labor-talks-biggest-moment-league-has-seen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/343562\/","title":{"rendered":"Caitlin Clark: WNBA labor talks ‘biggest moment’ league has seen"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Caitlin Clark prepares to return from injury<\/a> and make her anticipated debut with the U.S. national team, she remains focused on the ongoing CBA negotiations<\/a> between the WNBA and its players.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old Indiana Fever star called the labor situation \u201cthe biggest moment the WNBA has ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not something that can be messed up,\u201d Clark said Friday at the opening of Team USA training camp at Duke. \u201cWe\u2019re going to fight for everything that we deserve. But at the same time, like, we need to play basketball. That\u2019s what all our fans crave, and that\u2019s what all of you [in the media] crave, as well. You want the product on the floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, that\u2019s how you make the money. \u2026 That\u2019s what the fans get excited about; that\u2019s what the fans want to show up for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of the gap in negotiations revolves around player salaries and revenue sharing, with the current agreement now slated to expire on Jan. 9 following multiple extensions.<\/p>\n

\"CaitlinCaitlin Clark looks on during the United States Women\u2019s Basketball Team training camp at Duke University on December 12, 2025 in Durham, North Carolina. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The owners have proposed a raise in minimum salary from around $66,000 to $225,000 with a $1 million base for the league\u2019s top players. <\/p>\n

But the union is seeking to have the salary cap tied to the league\u2019s growth, similar to the structure the NBA uses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s business, and it\u2019s a negotiation,\u201d Clark added. \u201cThere has to be compromise on both sides. We\u2019re starting to get down to the wire of it. Obviously, I want to help any way I can and I\u2019ve tried to educate myself the best I can. I can\u2019t speak to every single number\u2014it\u2019s pretty complicated. But I think there are different things we can find ways to say we certainly deserve that and we can\u2019t compromise on that, and other things that we can probably compromise on.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike I said, this is the biggest moment in the history of the WNBA. I don\u2019t want that to be forgotten. It\u2019s important that we find a way to play this next season. I think our fans, and even everybody who has played in this league that has come before us deserves that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WNBAWNBA comissioner Cathy Engelbert. AP<\/p>\n

Clark also said she\u2019s ready to resume playing, claiming she\u2019s \u201cat 100 percent\u201d\u00a0after appearing in just 13 games last season due to groin and quad injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I need to knock off a little bit of rust and get my lungs back but my body feels really good,\u201d Clark said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m in a really good spot, my main goal is just staying that way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

With Clark sidelined, the Fever reached the semifinals of the playoffs earlier this year before losing in five games to the Las Vegas Aces, the eventual champions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Caitlin Clark prepares to return from injury and make her anticipated debut with the U.S. national team,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,735,48,2803,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-343562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-caitlin-clark","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-indiana-fever","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}