WNBA Cracks Million-Dollar Milestone as Players Cash In Under New Labor Deal

A financial breakthrough years in the making will become a reality this weekend when the first WNBA players poised to earn more than $1 million in a season can sign new contracts under the league’s landmark collective bargaining agreement.Multiple franchises have extended “core” designations — WNBA’s version of a franchise tag — to their top players, securing exclusive negotiating rights and guaranteeing one-year deals worth a record $1.4 million.The figure is roughly five times higher than the maximum salary available under the previous labor agreement, and signals a turning point in the economics of women’s professional basketball.Among those expected to sign are New York’s Sabrina Ionescu, Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier, Los Angeles’s Kelsey Plum, Indiana’s Kelsey Mitchell, Dallas’s Arike Ogunbowale, Atlanta’s Allisha Gray, Chicago’s Ariel Atkins and Seattle’s Ezi Magbegor.New franchises Portland and Toronto also extended core designations to veteran players Bridget Carleton and Marina Mabrey, who were selected during the expansion draft.The core designation prevents a player from leaving in free agency without compensation. While it limits immediate player movement, it does not eliminate flexibility altogether. Teams and players can still pursue sign-and-trade agreements.Starting next year, players can be given the core designation only twice and only if they have less than seven years of experience in the league.Teams were also able to send out reserved and restricted qualifying offers to players during this designation period, which began Monday. Negotiations will continue through Friday with players able to start signing their new contracts on Saturday.More than 80 percent of the league’s veteran players are free agents this year, as most players signed deals that expired at the end of last season anticipating higher salaries from the new CBA.Some players are expected to re-sign with their current teams for a year and revisit free agency after the season.Despite an expected flurry of activity, several of the league’s brightest stars have already chosen stability rather than movement. A’ja Wilson, a four-time most valuable player and a free agent, already announced she has no intention of leaving the Las Vegas Aces, winners of three of the last four WNBA titles.“I’m not leaving Vegas, so I’m not looking anywhere,” she said recently. “I’m looking to win another one. I’m looking to defend the championship that we have in Las Vegas.”In New York, Breanna Stewart and Ms. Ionescu previously indicated they plan to remain with the Liberty.“I’m not planning on taking any free agency meetings even though I am an unrestricted free agent,” Ms. Stewart said. “My family is set up here. We’re solid here. I’m going to be back in New York and that’s all there is to it. So good luck to everybody else in free agency, but I’m not a part of that.”Claudia Goldin, a Nobel Prize winning Harvard economics professor who advised the WNBA Players Association during the negotiations, framed the agreement as a long-overdue recalibration.“It’s not about equality, it’s about equity,” Ms. Goldin said prior to the deal being finalized. “The world of women’s professional basketball is ripe for an economic update that better reflects its influence and irresistibility.”That influence is evident not only in contract figures but also in the growing visibility of players as cultural figures. Ms. Collier and Sophie Cunningham are among a group of female athletes to be featured in the upcoming Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, underscoring the league’s expanding reach. A behind-the-scenes video of their photo-shoot was released this week. The issue will be out next month.“This is probably one of the most empowering things that I’ve done — ever,” Ms. Cunningham, a guard for the Indiana Fever, said. “I truly think, go kick ass out on the court and then go kick ass out in the real world being a woman who is strong, who is powerful and has the mindset that she can do anything. This is what SI is all about, empowering the female body. That’s what we’re doing.”Ms. Collier, of the Minnesota Lynx, did her photo shoot while recovering from January surgery on both her ankles. “We show what it is to sacrifice, what it is to work hard to achieve your dream,” she said.

WNBA Cracks Million-Dollar Milestone as Players Cash In Under New Labor Deal

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