Adam Silver Hints At Major Pay Boost Coming in New WNBA CBA
Now that the 2025 WNBA season is over, all attention regarding the league can turn toward the ongoing Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations between the league office and its players.
While these negotiations have been one of the biggest storylines in the sport over the past year or so, now that there's no basketball being played, it allows fans to focus their interest on whether these two sides are going to come to a deal before the initial deadline of October 31.
Even if the sides don't come to terms in the next 10 days (which seems extremely unlikely at this point), they can extend the deadline for as long as they need to get a deal done, which would ideally take place before the end of 2025 so that the upcoming WNBA free agency period in early 2026 isn't impacted.
What's for sure is that the ongoing tension between WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and the league's players has been dominating headlines in recent weeks to the point where the actual negotiations and what the players are seeking in a new CBA have taken a backseat in terms of conversation and media attention.
Adam Silver's Fresh Stance on WNBA CBA Negotiations Turns Heads
The CBA will encompass numerous vital aspects regarding the WNBA's operations in the coming years. But the most notable component of it is how much players will be able to earn, given the expected increase in salaries.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver (who is technically Cathy Engelbert's boss and therefore has a hand in these negotiations) sent an interesting message about this during an October 21 appearance on The Today Show.
When Silver was asked point-blank whether WNBA players should receive a larger share of the revenue the league generates, Silver said, "Yes," according to an X post from @ohnohedidnt24. Silver then added, "I think share isn't the right way to look at it, because there's so much more revenue in the NBA. I think that you should look at it in absolute numbers, in terms of what they're making.
"[WNBA players] are gonna get a big increase in this cycle of collective bargaining. And they deserve it," Silver continued.
Adam Silver on the WNBA labor talks:
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) October 21, 2025
"I think share isn't the right way to look at it because there's so much more revenue in the NBA...they are gonna get a big increase in this cycle of collective bargaining and they deserve it" pic.twitter.com/3SREuS0JG1
It's no secret that the WNBA players will be earning significantly increased salaries within this new CBA. But Silver confirming as much will spark optimism that the players' desires for these new salaries (which some reports have suggested they're seeking a maximum of around $1 million per year, as opposed to the $250,000 supermax they had in 2025) might be met by the league office.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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