WNBA Legends Strike Sweet Deals, Raking In Major Bounties!

Breanna Stewart, Nneka Ogwumike and Cathy Engelbert Credit: Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty; Matei Horvath/Getty NEED TO KNOW The WNBA is finalizing a new collective bargaining agreement The deal increases players' pay up to around $1 million per year Players and league officials came to the agreement after about 100 hours of negotiations over the past week After lengthy negotiations over the past week, players in the WNBA have reached an agreement with the league on a new collective bargaining agreement. "We have aligned on key elements of a new collective bargaining agreement together," WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert told reporters on Wednesday, March 18. The deal is still pending approval by the players and WNBA board of governors, and details were not immediately released, ESPN reported .

Engelbert, WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson and four members of the WNBPA executive committee — president Nneka Ogwumike, vice presidents Breanna Stewart and Alysha Clark and treasurer Brianna Turner — stood before reporters early Wednesday morning outside a midtown Manhattan, N. Y. hotel to announce the tentative agreement.

"I think this can be summed up in two words: player empowerment ... players coming to the table and standing on business and being reminded of the collective voice and of what it means to be in a union and the power of this union," Jackson said. "They never forgot it, and they have taken it, like they always do, to the next level.

" According to the stakeholders, some players’ salaries will now reach $1 million while the average compensation will be around $500,000. "We're just really grateful to be able to come to a deal," Ogwumike, 35, said. "We're proud of ourselves.