{"id":452266,"date":"2026-02-04T00:57:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T00:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/452266\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T00:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T00:57:09","slug":"give-us-what-we-want-wnba-players-sound-off-on-cba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/452266\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Give us what we want’: WNBA players sound off on CBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

The CBA fight is, at its heart, a labor dispute. The WNBA and, more broadly, women\u2019s professional basketball was a very different world the last time the league and the players inked an agreement in January 2020. In fact, Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball didn\u2019t even exist (the league started up in 2022), and nearly all of the players on this year\u2019s rosters are in the W. The players of the WNBA have never shied away<\/a> from political fights \u2014 including their own.<\/p>\n

Vets like Alysha Clark<\/a>, who is competing in her second season of Athletes Unlimited, know what\u2019s at stake. Though she\u2019s still a relative newcomer to the league in Nashville, she\u2019s a WNBA \u201cold head,\u201d Clark told The IX Sports Tuesday, and she\u2019s one of the vice presidents of the union.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling hopeful,\u201d after Monday\u2019s meeting between the league and the players, she told The IX Sports Tuesday. \u201cWe\u2019ve gone into these negotiations just really wanting to come to an agreement, and I think yesterday it just allowed both sides to be able to get in front of each other and hear each other and, hopefully, having player leadership there, kind of voicing why we\u2019re standing so strong on the issue that we are, I hope, gave them just a little more insight, to want to reflect that in the new CBA and the proposals that they present.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued: \u201cEverybody wants to play, everybody wants a season, and the goal at the end of the day is to make sure that a deal gets done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IX Soccer is here! <\/p>\n

In case you missed it, The IX Sports introduced a new women\u2019s soccer-specific vertical called The IX Soccer<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Just like The IX Basketball, this will be your destination for 24\/7 women\u2019s soccer coverage, including exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes looks at your favorite teams and leagues, as well as news from around the world. <\/p>\n

Follow the link below<\/a> and bookmark the page to stay up to date on the latest headlines in women\u2019s soccer.<\/p>\n

Tina Charles<\/a>, who is an Athletes Unlimited rookie after spending a decade overseas during the WNBA\u2019s offseason, also found reasons to be optimistic about the eventual outcome. \u201cI just hope soon that both sides \u2026 that we can reach a deal,\u201d she said. \u201cI think that\u2019s what everybody wants, that\u2019s what the fans want, [and] supporters of the WNBA want.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CBA negotiations have offered a lesson of sorts to Te-Hina Paopao and Aaliyah Nye<\/a>, who both played their rookie season in the WNBA in 2025 for the Atlanta Dream and Las Vegas Aces, respectively, and who will make their debuts in Athletes Unlimited this week. <\/p>\n

Nye acknowledged that the negotiations are \u201cnew to me\u201d as a young player in the league. \u201cThis is my first real job, so I\u2019m just leaving it up to our presidents and the older vets to get the job done, and I support them [in] whatever they want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I support,\u201d she continued, \u201cand I think that they should just listen to us and give us what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listen now to The IX Sports Podcast and Women\u2019s Sports Daily<\/p>\n

We are excited to announce the launch of TWO new podcasts for all the women\u2019s sports fans out there looking for a daily dose of women\u2019s sports news and analysis. Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and make sure to subscribe!<\/p>\n

Paopao was of the same mind. \u201cI mean, we\u2019re doing our job,\u201d she said, \u201cand I feel like we should get what we deserve, and our leaders of the league are doing a really great job voicing that, and voicing what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just need to support women,\u201d she added, \u201cbecause when we support women, we win. So, hopefully, we can get to something we\u2019re satisfied with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retirees are also on board. Kia Vaughn<\/a>, who played one season for the Dream and enjoyed a lengthy career<\/a> that included time spent playing overseas after she was drafted by the Liberty in 2009, threw her full support behind the WNBPA.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything and everything the girls want, we\u2019re all, myself, and every other vet, and every other retiree is beyond you all,\u201d Vaughn said. \u201cSo, whatever\u2019s written down, I\u2019m here for it, no matter what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The CBA fight is, at its heart, a labor dispute. The WNBA and, more broadly, women\u2019s professional basketball…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[185988,75328,12190,86310,49,48,173566,82,43587,8611,630],"class_list":["post-452266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-2026-cba","tag-aaliyah-nye","tag-alysha-clark","tag-athletes-unlimited","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-kia-vaughn","tag-sports","tag-te-hina-paopao","tag-tina-charles","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452266","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=452266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}