Angel Reese addresses possible WNBA lockout amid CBA negotiations

On Oct. 21, the WNBA players’ union announced the players were opting out of their collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the league. The CBA lasts through Oct. 31, 2025, providing the league and the union a season-long buffer to come to a new agreement.

The players’ union and WNBA agreed upon the current CBA in January 2020. Obviously, the popularity of the WNBA has skyrocketed since then, and the players are hopeful to reap the benefits. On the latest episode of Unapologetically Angel, Angel Reese weighed in on the impending negotiations between the players’ union and WNBA.

“But the women coming in, not this year but next year — because the ones coming in this year will still be on the rookie contract — the ones coming in the year after, they’re about to be making more than us,” Reese said. “… I got to get in the [CBA] meetings because I’m hearing, ‘If y’all don’t give us what we want, we sitting out.'”

If the players’ union and the league cannot come to an agreement by the beginning of the 2026 season, the league could have a lockout. While the NBA has dealt with a lockout before, the WNBA never has.

Of course, WNBA players have never had more leverage than they do now. In July, the WNBA announced a new 11-year media rights deal featuring partnerships with Disney, Amazon Prime Video and NBCUniversal.

The deal is valued at approximately $2.2 billion, or $200 million per year, but future agreements with additional partners could bring the league’s overall media deals closer to $3 billion. To pile on, the WNBA’s in-person attendance has never been higher, with stars like Caitlin Clark selling out arenas.

When Angel Reese discussed the possibility of a lockout, her guest, DiJonai Carrington, didn’t shoot it down. The Dallas Wings shooting guard is a respected star around the league and is involved with the players’ union’s negotiations.

“That’s a possibility for real,” Carrington said of a lockout. “It was kind of a possibility on the last one but like now, just with the leverage that we have right now, and it’s just a time that women’s basketball is going crazy,” Carrington said. “It’s going to be a time next year but we deserve it.”

Carrington isn’t alone in her beliefs. Women’s National Basketball Players Association president Nneka Ogwumike echoed Carrington’s sentiments last year when the players’ union opted out of the CBA.

“This is a defining moment, not just for the WNBA, but for all of us who believe in progress,” Ogwumike said in a statement. “The world has evolved since 2020, and we cannot afford to stand still. If we stay in the current agreement, we fall behind.”