{"id":527849,"date":"2026-03-10T23:33:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T23:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/527849\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T23:33:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T23:33:14","slug":"charles-barkley-questions-wnba-players-approach-to-train-wreck-cba-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/527849\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles Barkley Questions WNBA Players\u2019 Approach To \u2018Train Wreck\u2019 CBA Talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBA legend Charles Barkley has become one of the most popular sports broadcasters because he’s never afraid to say what’s on his mind.<\/p>\n

This was proved true through his pointed comments<\/a> about the WNBA’s CBA negotiations in October of 2025, where he warned players about overplaying their hand.<\/p>\n

Fast forward five months, and the CBA negotiations are still ongoing<\/a>, and the WNBA season is now in danger of being delayed because the two sides can’t agree on terms. <\/p>\n

\"Phoenix<\/p>\n

Phoenix Suns former player Charles Barkley | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Charles Barkley Sends Blunt Warning To WNBA Players In CBA Talks<\/p>\n

Barkley reiterated his warning during a March 7 episode of The Steam Room.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to say this to these WNBA players: You could see this train wreck coming. You could see this damn train wreck coming. I didn\u2019t say anything publicly. But when y\u2019all start bad-mouthing the commissioner, you have to remember one thing: the commissioner works for the owners. The commissioner is not trying to be \u2014\u00a0I like Cathy, but she\u2019s speaking for the owners,” Barkley said. <\/p>\n

“So now, I hear all these people on television for the last few months talking about, \u2018You women, y\u2019all got these dudes, and y\u2019all go the commissioner, and y\u2019all got the owners.\u2019 I\u2019m like, well, y\u2019all better be careful. Because you know who has power? People who got damn money,” he continued. <\/p>\n

\"WNBA<\/p>\n

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

He then added, \u201cI love the WNBA. I wish you women nothing but the best. But this notion that y’all were just going to hold everybody\u2019s feet to the fire and get whatever y\u2019all wanted, that\u2019s not the way it works!<\/a> You have to make the best deal possible. But the people who got all the money, they\u2019re going to make the rules. \u201d<\/p>\n

Barkley noted that the three most important players during the NBA’s lockouts (Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson) told players to sit and stay at home while the negotiations were underway. He explained that there’s no world where the players will overrule the billoinaire owners, because that’s not the way the world works.<\/p>\n

“Ladies, I want you all to get paid, and I wish y’all the best. But y\u2019all gotta be very careful. Y\u2019all get in that room and say, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s make the best deal.\u2019 You don\u2019t want a strike, you don\u2019t want a lockout. I\u2019ve been watching for months, all these people on TV talking about, ‘You can get paid what you can get.’ You might not get paid what you\u2019re worth. But you can get paid what you can get. So I wish you all the best, but hey: Y’all need to make the best deal,” he concluded. <\/p>\n

Props to Barkley for telling it how it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NBA legend Charles Barkley has become one of the most popular sports broadcasters because he’s never afraid to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-527849","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\/527849","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=527849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}