The WNBA and the players opted to extend CBA negotiations by 30 days after failing to meet the original October 31 deadline for a new agreement, which means all involved parties have just under 20 days left to come to a new deal (or extend negotiations for a second time). The CBA will have a huge impact on all players in the league once a deal is reached, but there's one group of players who may be more effected than both: most of the athletes still on their rookie contracts.
As ESPN noted this week, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Paige Bueckers aside, the vast majority of players on rookie contracts are still navigating a system that hasn't exactly worked in their favor. And while some, like Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron, are signed up to play in the Unrivaled during the offseason, others are finding their footing and hoping that the CBA will afford them more opportunities to make more money in the WNBA.
Clark, Reese, and Bueckers have each amassed huge fan bases and deals outside the WNBA that go along with those fans and that attention. If the WNBA enters into a lockout, these three players will be fine — despite that fact that they each signed a rookie contract worth less than $80,000 a year.
An increase in WNBA salaries would also apply to existing rookie deals
When players signed a new CBA in 2020, that deal came with an increase in salaries and rookie minimums, which was applied retroactively to rookie contracts already in place, so no player in the league was making below the new minimum. It can safely be assumed the same will happen when a new deal is reached (hopefully) this year.
Though a lot of the league's players that are still on rookie contracts are playing in Unrivaled, Athletes Unlimited, or overseas during the offseason, that increase will still be deeply appreciated. As ESPN also noted, the youngest athletes in the league will also be focused on making sure the deal benefits them as they map out what will hopefully be long careers in the WNBA.
There haven't been a lot of updates about the CBA since both the league and the players agreed to the extension, but that is likely to change soon. More players have also announced they are joining Project B, a move that could also spur the WNBA into action.