As Unrivaled returned with Season 2, with 3×3 basketball taking center stage, the WNBA and the WNBPA continue to be at loggerheads over salary cap, revenue share, and many more contentious points. And WNBPA vice president Napheesa Collier is making the headlines with her statement regarding the whole situation.
The Minnesota Lynx superstar aimed more at the people running the WNBA. Speaking courtside at an Unrivaled Season 2 game, Collier said,” Being on this side with Unrivaled, I know what it takes to run a sustainable business. So if they can’t find a model that makes that happen, they need to put people in place who can.”
Rachel Annamarie DeMita of Courtside Club has pointed out that the statement has not gone down well with a large part of the audience. Looking closely at the statement, the Minnesota Lynx star took a shot at the people behind the WNBA, which would only make matters worse. To add to it, the statement looks out-of-touch with reality, given the numbers and the scale of the two bodies.
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Unrivaled’s Season 2 viewership has fallen when compared to its inaugural season, with DeMita stating that the first season grabbed more eyeballs due to the intrigue surrounding the project as well. Also, the absence of players like Caitlin Clark, who have proven to have a big effect on viewership and attendance numbers, is a big factor in Unrivaled not grabbing as many eyeballs as many would have thought.
Also, Unrivaled is a completely different project and is incomparable to the WNBA. Unrivaled features a different format of play – 3×3 basketball – and was mainly created to provide players a fiscally viable alternative to going abroad to play during the off-season. Also, in terms of scale, the WNBA is monstrous, and its management duties cannot be compared with Unrivaled.
DeMita also added that while Unrivaled does deserve applause for achieving the sole purpose it was created for, it has helped players stay within the United States and work on their game without worrying about the finances involved with the offseason. But, Unrivaled has not reached anywhere near the heights that it will take before it can be put in even the same conversation as the WNBA.
The Pending CBA Could Derail the Entire 2026 WNBA Season
As the revised CBA deadline approaches, the WNBA and WNBPA have yet to come to a mutual agreement. And WNBPA vice president Breanna Stewart has stated that it is unlikely to be another extension once the January 9 deadline passes, and that the two bodies will continue to negotiate in ‘good faith’.
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The 2026 WNBA season could unravel really quickly if the WNBPA and the WNBA do not come to a mutual agreement regarding the CBA soon. Rachel DeMita highlighted how the CBA has already affected the timeline for the 2026 WNBA season and what precedes it.
The premier Women’s Basketball Body in the United States has yet to even announce a date for the Expansion Draft, where the unprotected WNBA players will be picked up by the two new franchises, Toronto and Portland, ahead of the season. The Expansion draft is supposed to lead us into the 2026 WNBA Draft and Free Agency, all of which are likely to be pushed further back if this CBA standoff continues to last.
The main contention point, as per DeMita, is the revenue share. The WNBA Analyst speculated that while the players have come down to a revenue share of 30%, the WNBA is still holding out at somewhere between 15-17% as of right now, which is what is delaying the whole agreement. Once the revenue share and the salary cap are agreed upon, the two bodies can run through the other points and get the CBA wrapped up quickly. Further extensions are unlikely, and more delays are only going to hurt both the players and the WNBA.
The post Napheesa Collier’s WNBA Stance Sits on Shaky Ground as New Details Comes to Light, Per Analyst appeared first on EssentiallySports.
