With historic new CBA, WNBA players' 'sense of lack' is a thing of the past
To have a professional sports team is to run it like one, and the "have-nots" will soon be the ones speaking about what they have.
The conversations around the WNBA have, for most of its existence, been about what it doesn’t have. No dunking, no media attention, no booming attendance numbers. No charter flights or five-star hotel stays.
Even in some instances, no actual arena in which to play. The salary numbers were laughable. Many entry-level corporate jobs paid more than a generational talent the likes of Caitlin Clark earned when she went pro .
The team staff were miniscule. Adding a third assistant coach, as long as someone on the staff had formerly played, was a massive deal in 2020. The tentative collective bargaining agreement (CBA) announced by the WNBA and WNBA Players Association on Friday rectifies all of that.
It carries the league into a completely new era, backing up what WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike said earlier in the week when the sides came to a verbal agreement. “I’m really excited about players coming into this league for the first time, and not having a sense of lack,” Ogwumike told the four reporters on site all week, waiting out eight days and more than 100 hours of negotiations in midtown Manhattan. Or, in other words, she’s excited to no longer be talking about what they don’t have.
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