Kelsey Plum Sets Stage as WNBA CBA Talks Get High-Stakes Update
The clock is ticking as CBA negotiations continue to stall between the WNBA and WNBPA. Both sides will convene in New York City on Monday for their latest meeting -- one that could determine the course of the WNBA offseason and beyond.
"I think we'll learn a lot from this meeting," WNBPA first vice president Kelsey Plum said at Unrivaled. "I'm not trying to put it on the meeting, but this is a meeting that I think everyone understands what's at stake. The league has their timelines; we as players understand what's at stake."
Kelsey Plum says there will be a player meeting with the league on Monday in NYC. Not everyone can make it but mentions Napheesa Collier will also attend. Hope is some owners will be there too.
— Alexa Philippou (@alexaphilippou) January 30, 2026
Plum hopes being face to face with management will help convos move forward.
It's not just the league's salary cap that stands to be affected by the negotiations. Should the WNBA and WNBPA remain at an impasse, it could spell disaster for the 2026 season.
The league has not responded to the WNBPA's latest proposal at the end of December, citing that the contents did not warrant a response. While the two sides have been in contact, per Annie Costabile of Front Office Sports, there have been no full bargaining sessions in January.
"I always come into anything that I do with a great attitude," Plum asserted. "And I'm gonna see the best in this."
Plum will join WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike and vice president Napheesa Collier on Monday. The league's CBA leadership, labor relations committee, and league and union staff will also be in attendance, Costabile reported Friday.
Plum's open-mindedness should not be mistaken for weakness. The WNBPA is fighting for a complete overhaul of the WNBA salary format, particularly as it pertains to revenue share. And it doesn't seem like the players are particularly eager to budge on their demands.
"We're not worried. All the power is in our hands," New York Liberty guard Natasha Cloud said Friday at Unrivaled. "We have never had a moment like this where there's been so much momentum, where there has been so much investment, demand of our sport. I'm disgusted with the 'W', and how they're handling this -- their lack of value, their lack of worth for us, their lack of even trying to attempt to move the needle with us."
A reporter (sorry don’t know who) asked Natasha Cloud if she was worried about the lack of a CBA once February 1 rolled around.
— Rob from Chester, Pa (@knoxrob1) January 30, 2026
Tasha answered as only she could. Raw. Honest. Direct. No punches pulled @theixsports pic.twitter.com/rnnVYSs8DQ
Cloud is just the latest WNBA player to voice her frustration with the league amid the CBA negotiations -- although she certainly brought her own flair to the table.
"We will not f--king move until y'all move," Cloud asserted, directing her message to the camera. "Without us, there is no W season."
WNBA can't afford to halt momentum with strike
Cloud's comments evoke the possibility of a strike -- an outcome that could have disastrous effects for the league and players alike.
The WNBA released its 2026 schedule on Jan. 21. Regular season action is slated to tip off on May 8, but that's hardly a guarantee. Even if both sides come to terms on a new CBA, the league still must complete a massive free-agency period, the 2026 entry draft, and two expansion drafts for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire.
Per Costabile, multiple league sources believe March is the best-case scenario for free agency, and that's if a new CBA is finalized by early February. Should the players initiate a strike, you can throw all those timelines out the window.
On Dec. 18, players voted to authorize the WNBPA executive committee to call a strike if negotiations continue to stall. If Monday's meeting doesn't yield favorable results, the threat of said strike looms large.
"We know what is on the horizon," Cloud said. "The pressure is on the WNBA, on Cathy [Engelbert], on Adam [Silver] -- on everyone that is in that front office. Do your job."
While a strike could, in theory, net the players the deal they desire, it could also halt the league's momentum that Cloud praised earlier.
The 2024 and 2025 seasons saw the WNBA reach new heights in viewership, spurred on by a new class of young superstars that includes Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers. Another potential star -- UConn's Azzi Fudd -- is set to join the league's ranks in 2026. The last thing the WNBA needs is anything that could impede its growth.
It's a big risk on the players' part if the WNBPA elects to go down that path.
Lou Orlando is a Fordham University alum, graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism. At Rose Hill, he covered women's basketball for the university newspaper, the Fordham Ram. In addition to calling games on 90.7 FM. The Brooklyn native enjoys bagels and thinking about random early-2010s athletes, that is when he isn't penning stories for Women's Fastbreak and Indiana Fever On SI.
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