WNBA term sheet reveals CBA details on schedule, facilities standards, more
The WNBA on Tuesday provided teams with a term sheet of details on the new and unanimously ratified collective bargaining agreement. The Athletic obtained one of these term sheets that goes into further detail about some of the negotiations that haven’t previously been reported. Among other items, the term sheet included greater details on the new developmental player spots.
These two spots can go to any player who either has fewer than four years of WNBA service or has four or five years of service but played between one and 160 minutes in the previous season. Teams will be able to use a single developmental player in up to 12 games during the 2026 season (or the greater of 12 games or 25 percent of the games of the regular season). These players will receive a weekly stipend of $750 that doesn’t count toward the team’s salary cap, as well as a per-game payment (for games in which they appear) that will be $6,136 during the 2026 season.
Teams will be able to convert developmental players to full-time rostered players at any time. For 14 days after a team signs a developmental player, that player may only negotiate a contract with their team. After those two weeks, the team has the right of first refusal if another franchise offers that player a standard contract.
There is a new schedule footprint. Training camp can start as early as April 1, and the WNBA Finals can run as late as Nov. 21, though that date can change during Olympic years.
The preference appears to be avoiding a conflict with the end of the college basketball season. In that vein, despite proposing a mandatory draft combine during the bargaining process, which would have created some scheduling challenges for players still participating in March Madness, there is no combine as of yet. WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike had trumpeted one of the wins of the CBA as “raising the professional standard across facilities, staffing, and support.