Paige Bueckers, Sabrina Ionescu 'very excited' for new WNBA CBA

PHOENIX — Paige Bueckers returned to Team USA basketball camp on Wednesday, April 1, weeks after competing with the U. S. women's national team at the 2026 FIBA Women's World Cup Qualifying tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

There was uncertainty of whether there would even be a 2026 WNBA season the last time Team USA gathered in early March, but players are "very excited" to have a new WNBA CBA in place as they practiced in Phoenix this weekend ahead of the Women's NCAA Tournament Final Four. "I think as players, we all wanted to play," Bueckers said on Wednesday. "But there was a mix of standing on what we believed in and what we thought people before us have built for us to deserve and have to earned for us.

" Bueckers said revenue sharing and salary increases were the main priorities to her personally, in addition to housing provisions and retirement pay for the players that laid the groundwork before her. "From the way that the game is expanded, we want our earnings to expand as well. So we're really happy and excited with the way things turned out and we're really, really glad that we stood on," Bueckers said.

"Looking forward to the future, that's what we want for the next generation and the next classes coming up, that the game is considerably built and we get what we deserve from that. " With the new WNBA CBA officially in place, the league's 30th season can move forward with its condensed schedule ahead of the season tip-off on May 8. The expansion draft will be held on Friday, April 3, followed by the free agency window and WNBA draft.