With the 2025 WNBA season around the corner, the need for a new collective bargaining agreement is already looming over the league. On Tuesday, Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier weighed in on the issue on ESPN’s First Take, addressing the possibility of a strike and the leverage that the players have in this negotiation.
“No one wants a walkout,” Collier said, “but I think we have to stand firm in what we think we deserve in this new CBA.”
The WNBA Players Association (WNBPA) opted out of the current CBA in October, stating its intention to negotiate a new agreement. As a result, the WNBPA and the league have until this coming October to come to an agreement, or else the players could start a work stoppage after the 2025 season.
Collier, a vice president in the WNBPA, said that she believes that the players are in “a great position” to negotiate, especially in terms of the surge in the league’s ratings.
“The sport is just exploding. You saw it with the viewership in the WNBA last year, with Unrivaled this year. People are tuning in,” Collier said. “We have the most leverage we’ve ever had as WNBA players and we have to use it to our advantage. The time for change is right now.”
On Tuesday, Collier said that players want to avoid a strike if possible, but that they’re keeping it open as a possible way to ensure negotiations are in their favor.
“The atmosphere of women’s sports in changing, and we think we need to get paid accordingly,” Collier said. “We’re definitely going in with that mindset where we don’t want that to happen, but we are willing to do what it takes to get what we think we deserve.”
The 28-year-old forward stated that, compared to the previous CBA, the players are “asking for a lot more.” Players know that the upcoming agreement will be a big one, and are planning accordingly.
Many players opted for a one-year contract during the offseason, in anticipation of the new CBA; as a result, a majority of players that aren’t on rookie deals will be off their contracts next year. Collier herself will become an unrestricted free agent after the 2025 season.
When asked by Shannon Sharpe if the presence of Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 league founded by Collier and Breanna Stewart that just wrapped up its inaugural season, is an additional factor in negotiations, Collier said that it was.
“Having options is never a bad thing, right?” Collier added.
Payment, which is a large part of the WNBPA’s issue with the CBA, is less of a problem with Unrivaled: The league paid every players a minimum of six figures, pulling from a salary pool of $8 million. Collier herself earned a $200,000 bonus — close to what the highest earners in the WNBA make per season — by winning Unrivaled’s one-on-one tournament.
Over the past few weeks, other WNBA players have discussed the possibility of a strike. Earlier this month, Angel Reese and DiJonai Carrington said on Reese’s podcast that they are willing to sit out games if the two sides can’t come to an agreement.
Collier noted on Tuesday that next year is going to a particularly wild one, between the CBA, contract extensions and an expansion draft for the two new WNBA teams in Toronto (now named the Toronto Tempo) and Portland.
“It’s gonna be like the Wild West out here, it’s gonna be crazy,” Collier said.
