January 30, 2026
The WNBA and WNBPA will meet in-person on Monday
Plum: 'This is a meeting that I think everyone understands what's at stake'
Ahead of Unrivaled’s debut in Philadelphia, first WNBPA first vice president, Kelsey Plum, shared with The IX Sports that the WNBA and WNBPA are set to meet in person on Monday, Feb. 2. She explained that this will be their first face-to-face meeting since the fall and a last-chance effort to come to an agreement and avoid “games of telephone.” Two sources familiar with the situation told The IX Basketball that the meeting was agreed to yesterday afternoon.
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“I think we’ll learn a lot from this meeting,” Plum said. “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. I always come into anything that I do with a great attitude, and I’m gonna see the best in this.”
Plum, WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike, WNBPA vice presidents Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart will be in attendance, multiple sources familiar with the situation confirmed to The IX Sports. The players are hopeful that owners will join the meeting, as it is a critical moment for in-person talks for both parties, and make some headway with the ongoing collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations. Sources familiar with the league-union interactions in recent weeks differ on whether or not a face-to-face meeting was rejected by the union.
New York Liberty guard Natasha Cloud spoke about the upcoming meeting and future of the league and said, “We’re not worried. All the power is in our hands. We have had a moment like this where there’s been so much momentum, where there’s been so much investment and demand for our sport.
She continued: “I’m upset, frustrated, and in a lot of ways disgusted with the W and how they’re handling this and their lack of value and lack of worth for us.”
This meeting comes after the parties had not agreed to a new CBA and entered a “status quo” period on Jan. 9. Under this time, the working conditions outlined in the current CBA remain the same and allow both the WNBA and WNBPA to continue their negotiations. However, the WNBA players are prepared to strike if an agreement is unable to be met, as they voted to authorize the WNBPA executive committee to call a strike when they deemed necessary on Dec. 18.
If they do end up going on strike, Los Angeles Sparks center Azura Stevens says the players are prepared for what’s to come. But she believes there needs to be a little leeway on both sides to come to a resolution. “There has to be a little give or take. I’m not just saying it’s the league, but even for us players, we have to come to some middle ground,” she told reporters. “And I think that’s why we’re at a standstill right now, because both sides are unwilling to do that.”
For young Washington Mystics guard Sug Sutton, there’s a level of concern for what’s to come. “There’s a level of concern and unknown, and I don’t like to be in that position,” she told reporters. But she’s taking the anxiety of it all day by day, as it can be mentally taxing. “Being in Unrivaled has helped with that mental part with the W and everything that is going on. So I’m really thankful to have this opportunity with Unrivaled and to play in this league.”
Plum told reporters that she is not entering the meeting with any expectations. She hopes that talking face-to-face and gauging body language will give them all the opportunity to make progress in many of the topics discussed in the new CBA, as well as what type of system the league will operate on going forward.
The league has already released the schedules for the 2026 season. So if the WNBA and the WNBPA can come to an agreement, the 30th WNBA season is slated to begin May 8, 2026.
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Howard Megdal and Jackie Powell contributed reporting to this story.
