DURHAM, N.C. — Although the WNBA and players’ union remain divided in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement, star players at the Team USA training camp, including Caitlin Clark, said they’re hopeful the 2026 season can be fully salvaged.
“This is the biggest moment the WNBA has ever seen, and it’s not something that can be messed up, and we’re going to fight for everything that we deserve,” Clark said Friday at her first Team USA camp at Duke. “At the same time, we need to play basketball. That’s what our fans crave, and that’s what all of you crave as well, is you want the product on the floor. At the end of the day, that’s how you make the money.
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“It’s important that we find a way to play this next season,” Clark said. “Our fans and even everybody that has played in this league that has come before us deserve that as well.
“Obviously, I can’t speak to every number; it’s pretty complicated, but I think there are different things that we can find ways to say, ‘No, we certainly deserve that, and we’re not going to compromise on that.’ And then other things that we can probably compromise on.”
Clark and a younger cohort of players aren’t on the front lines of the CBA fight, even though the young stars recognize the gravity of the situation. Clark is constantly in the ear of the Indiana player representatives, Aliyah Boston and Lexie Hull, as well as Fever veteran Brianna Turner, the treasurer of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association executive committee. Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese has regularly attended Zoom union meetings, and reigning rookie of the year Paige Bueckers has been educating herself on the specifics of the negotiations.
The trio emphasized the continued need for solidarity as players attempt to secure their stake in the growing WNBA business.
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“It’s continued negotiations, as you guys know, but we’re pretty firm on what we believe and what we stand for … in what we believe that we have earned, and the people before us have earned,” Bueckers said.
The presence of so many young players at the USAB camp is a visual reminder of who the union is fighting for. While much of the WNBPA leadership is in the latter stages of their careers, including president Nneka Ogwumike and vice president Alysha Clark, 10 first-time attendees on the senior national team stand to benefit the most from a shake-up to the WNBA’s economic model.
Clark, Bueckers, Reese, Boston, Cameron Brink, Sonia Citron and Rickea Jackson are on rookie contracts, while Lauren Betts (UCLA) and JuJu Watkins (USC) are still in college. The new CBA will dramatically affect their financial futures.
“The young and turnt crew is what we’re fighting for,” Reese said. “The vets have done a great job being able to speak up for us and do a lot of things. Nneka (Ogwumike), Satou (Sabally), (Napheesa Collier). All of them have done a great job, and they’re doing it for our generation, for the next to come.”
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Despite the imperative to agree to a new deal, first vice president Kelsey Plum said talks haven’t progressed as hoped. The union and WNBA agreed to a 40-day extension of the CBA, which expires on Jan. 9. The previous CBA was agreed to on Jan. 14, 2020.
“It’s a little bit disheartening, just frustration in the negotiation and how far away we are,” Plum said. “As a player, of course, I want to play. … It’s really important to show that it’s not just about us, but it’s about the future, and it’s really about women in general and just really fighting for what needs to be done. Stand on that, stay strong, and chip away and hopefully get to something that we can be really proud of.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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