MEDLEY, Fla. \u2014 Breanna Stewart, who teamed with fellow\u00a0WNBA\u00a0star Kelsey Plum on a letter to the players’ association this week expressing concerns about the\u00a0state of labour talks with the league,\u00a0said Wednesday she feels better about where things stand and is convinced players are still unified in what they want in the next collective bargaining agreement.<\/p>\n
And the union, later Wednesday, released a statement saying the league’s latest offer \u201cis not worth taking” \u2014 with less than a week remaining until the deadline for getting a deal done and preserving a full 2026 WNBA season.<\/p>\n
Stewart was part of a call with other members of the players’ executive committee on Tuesday night, hours after the letter that she and Plum wrote to WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson \u2014 one where they expressed \u201cserious concerns about how (the union) is handling the current negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several media outlets, including The Associated Press, obtained copies of the letter, which was dated Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe call made me feel better,” Stewart told AP, speaking after her Mist team finished its final shootaround practice in advance of Wednesday night’s Unrivaled championship game against the Phantom team that features Plum. \u201cSometimes hard conversations need to be had. I felt better after it and know that we finished that call understanding that we\u2019re representing the larger body (of players) and we have work to be done and we\u2019re going to do that work.\u201d<\/p>\n
The union \u2014 in a statement from its executive committee, of which Stewart and Plum are members \u2014 echoed Stewart’s comments in its statement, saying it remains \u201cunited and focused on delivering a transformational CBA … and are committed to negotiating for as long as it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is obvious urgency to get a deal done.<\/p>\n
The WNBA has told the players\u2019 union that it needs to get a deal in place by this coming Tuesday to start the season on time. That would allow the new CBA to be written and signed by the end of the month, which would in theory be followed by expansion drafts for the new franchises in Portland and Toronto during the first week of April. Free agency would follow, signings could start on April 12, training camps would open about a week later and the season would begin May 8.<\/p>\n
The league and the players have been unable to reach a\u00a0new collective bargaining agreement\u00a0since the union opted out of the previous deal.<\/p>\n
Stewart and Plum are in unique roles; both are vice presidents of the players’ association, both are among the biggest names in women’s basketball, and both have been dealing with the CBA uncertainty while on Unrivaled playoff runs with their clubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always approached anything in life, any adversity, by staying in the game,\u201d Plum said after shootaround Wednesday, when asked about simultaneously dealing with an Unrivaled title push amid the WNBA’s labour uncertainty. \u201cI’m a human being. It’s hard. I definitely have moments, but at the end of the day, I know my heart. I know I\u2019m super excited about tonight, and when you work all year for something, you want to finish it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Stewart: \u201cWe’ve been in CBA negotiations for more than just the past two weeks. It\u2019s been 17, 18 months. I don\u2019t know exactly how long. And to be able to compartmentalize that hasn\u2019t been easy.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the letter, Stewart and Plum said WNBA players \u201care at one of the most consequential moments in the history of this league\u201d and called upon Jackson to provide many things, including:<\/p>\n
\u2014 a detailed breakdown of the WNBA’s expenses and revenue.<\/p>\n
\u2014 analysis between the potential losses players would face in a delayed or strike-shortened season vs. the gains that could be earned through a new CBA.<\/p>\n
\u2014 player opinions on the WNBA’s latest proposal.<\/p>\n
\u2014 clarity on the rookie salary scale.<\/p>\n
\u2014 an explanation of what Jackson thinks the executive committee’s \u201crole and responsibilities should be in this process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stewart said it wasn’t her intention for the letter to get out publicly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a letter that was meant for Terri, and for the EC, for us to really have a conversation and stay strong in all the things that we\u2019re negotiating, and I believe that we are,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cWe are still unified and understanding what we\u2019re fighting for and that\u2019s the messaging that we had on our call last night. … Our main goal is to make sure that we have the best possible deal for all players.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MEDLEY, Fla. \u2014 Breanna Stewart, who teamed with fellow\u00a0WNBA\u00a0star Kelsey Plum on a letter to the players’ association…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-514474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514474","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=514474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}