What the 2026 WNBA CBA means for league, players, salaries

Seventeen months after WNBA players opted out of their collective bargaining agreement with the league — and after months of intense negotiations, including a 100-hour marathon of in-person sessions last week — the WNBA will soon have a new agreement to start the 2026 season.

From the end of the WNBA Finals on Friday, October 10 until the early hours of March 18, the league was immersed in discussions about its future. The negotiations were contentious at times and concerns arose over whether the 2026 season would start on time.

Finally, this week’s negotiating sessions resulted in verbal agreement on the terms of a new deal that the WNBA and players’ association hailed as a historic achievement for the league, which will celebrate its 30th season this year.

While full details of the new CBA are still to come, here’s what we know so far and how it will affect the 2026 season and beyond.

For months, both sides have said they were seeking a “transformational” deal. Is this agreement effective?

Yes, because it is the vastly improved framework on which future ABCs will be built. All previous collective agreements were moving forward, but they were more progressive. This is a legitimate big leap that changes the financial structure of the league in a way that will benefit the future players being born now.

For the first time in league history, the salary system will be directly linked to a share of league revenue. As the company grows, so do player salaries. This is a change from previous collective agreements: in the 2020 edition, salary caps were fixed, increasing by 3% each year.

ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the average revenue share for this deal would be nearly 20% over the life of the deal, although the exact details of how the revenue sharing system would work remain unclear.

It’s fair to say that actors who signed previous deals sometimes feel like they’re leaving more on the table than they’d like. They shouldn’t feel that way this time. They stood firm on their most important issues and negotiated them with firm purpose.

This agreement set standards for wages and growth that were not even anticipated six years ago, when the previous collective agreement was signed – which is why this agreement can truly be described as transformative. — Michael Voepel and Alexa Philippou

What will player salaries look like under this deal? Will we see the first $1 million player?

The cap was around $1.5 million in 2025; it will be $7 million in 2026, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania. The supermax will start at $1.4 million (compared to $249,244 in 2025). The average salary will be around $600,000 ($120,000 in 2025) and the minimum wage will exceed $300,000 ($66,079 in 2025), sources said.

The Las Vegas Journal-Review reported that the Las Vegas Aces are considering signing four-time MVP A’ja Wilson to a supermax deal. Players such as Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier and Kelsey Mitchell (last year’s highest-paid player) will also be there.

Sources tell Alexa Philippou that the cap hit is expected to exceed $10 million by the end of the deal.

What is the process for formalizing the agreement and when should it be concluded?

A list of conditions must be drawn up, after which the details of the agreement will be made public. This process could be completed by the end of the week.

After that, the union will present the agreement to the players and answer all their questions. Players will vote on the agreement, and if they approve it – this requires a simple majority – it will be formally ratified by the union. The agreement must also be subject to approval by the WNBA Board of Governors. Once this is done, it can be officially signed.

The ratification period – which also involves drafting the contract itself, which runs hundreds of pages – could still take several weeks. — Voepel and Philippou

Will the season start on time?

Yes, the 30th season of the league will begin on May 8. That was one of the concerns as negotiations stretched into mid-March, and there is an awful lot to do between now and opening day. The league, which released the 2026 schedule on Jan. 21, said it would not be affected by the extension of negotiations.

Engelbert said Wednesday morning that the dates would not change for the college draft, scheduled for April 13 in New York, the start of training camp, the first preseason games on April 25 or the first regular season games on May 8. — Voepel

How will the league conduct an expansion draft and free agency next month?

In late February, the league sent tentative dates to teams outlining the extremely condensed offseason that will play out in a matter of weeks (instead of the several months it usually takes), sources told ESPN. These dates are “subject to change,” a source said, as the new collective agreement is officially signed, and dependent on the documents being ratified before March 31.

The first will be a two-team expansion draft for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo. The expansion project is expected to take place on April 6, according to sources. On April 1, teams would begin designating which players on their roster would be protected from selection. A coin toss will determine whether the Tempo or Fire get the first pick and will also decide which team selects higher (between the sixth and seventh picks in the first round) in the college draft.

Free agency is scheduled to begin April 7. The player nomination period will take place from April 7 to 8 and negotiations can begin on April 9. Signings will take place from April 12 to 18.

With more than 75% of the league’s free agents — most players have avoided signing contracts beyond the 2025 season to take advantage of potentially higher salaries in the new CBA — there could be a lot of movement across the WNBA landscape before training camps begin on April 19.