In 1996, the NBA launched the idea to make a women's league after witnessing their performance in the Olympics. A year later, the WNBA was in play as the Houston Comets won the first-ever title.

Since then, the league has come a long way, with many trailblazing moments. Today, as it deals with the CBA negotiations, the deadline has been extended twice to January 9, 2026.

It may now be time look back on some NBA history to learn how the labor negotiations were handled then.

It might feel like déjà vu as the WNBA follows similar drama as the NBA went through years ago. The American Basketball Association (ABA) challenged the NBA with higher salaries and a new 5v5 playing system. At that time Rookie Mel Daniels chose the ABA's $36,000 over the NBA's $12,000.

The NBA was quick to answer by funding Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's $250,000 salary in 1969 when he joined the Bucks. The main aim was to retain as much talent as possible, and that's exactly what happened as average NBA salaries hit $90,000 in 1970 (about $770,000 today).

The Merge

In 1976, the ABA couldn't sustain itself and merged with the NBA. This was when the NBA acquired teams like the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets, and San Antonio Spurs.

It all came down to talent retention and dealing with market changes. As Bucks owner Ray Patterson said, “[the League’s funds] helped us save the franchise and helped the NBA compete against some very vibrant and resourceful ABA owners who had amassed an awful lot of dynamic talent.”

The WNBA is on similar crossroads with rival leagues like Unrivaled, Athletes Unlimited (AU), and the more recent Project-B coming up. If it wants to survive this CBA negotiation, it will need to take a page from the NBA's history book.

Offseason leagues like the 3x3 Unrivaled, co-owned by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, AU, and Project B give stars a much better competitive pay, equity, and higher salaries than the W could offer.

Project B is slowly posing as the bigger rival, offering $2M, with signings from players like Nneka Ogwumike, Alyssa Thomas, and Kelsey Mitchell.

How the CBA tensions started

The 2025 WNBA All-Star Weekend was more in focus because of the players 'Pay Us What You Owe Us' t-shirts.

But the CBA talks escalated when Minnesota Lynx's Napheesa Collier made a public statement in 2025, calling out WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert for a lack of accountability and transparency with numbers and payments in the league.

The season ended with a focus on Aces Star Jackie Young's salary of $252,450, the highest paid this year. But that number came nowhere close to the highest paid NBA player salary, Stephen Curry: $59.6 million.

In response to this, the league's latest offer promised a salary of $1 million with $220,000 minimum. But that comes with a downside of earlier starts, no guaranteed housing, compulsory draft combines for rookies with pay cuts as punishment, and limited revenue shares to just 15% from a previous 9%.

Given what happened in NBA history, the WNBA will have to offer better solutions and meet player needs to maintain peace between the players and the authorities.

Written by

Fatema Kapasi

Edited by

Oajaswini Prabhu