For the primary time this offseason, there appears to be a professional mild on the finish of the tunnel within the hotly contested CBA negotiations between the WNBA and the league’s gamers affiliation.
Strolling the purple carpet on the SI Sportsperson of the Yr Award ceremony in Las Vegas on Tuesday, New York Liberty star and WNPBA vice chairman Breanna Stewart offered Ballislife with an unique replace.
She admitted that reaching a take care of the league earlier than Friday’s prolonged deadline can be a problem, however expressed confidence that it could possibly be on the horizon sooner, moderately than later.
“I imply, (inside) the subsequent three days is hard for certain. I’m very assured that we are going to get a deal finished. It is form of unlucky that it is taken this lengthy, however hopefully we’re going to have the ability to flip the web page quickly and actually form of get deep into all of the negotiations that we have been struggling to agree on.”
The WNBA CBA deadline is simply two days away! 👀
Breanna Stewart solely tells @Ballislife that “she’s very assured” a deal will get finished.
Do you suppose the WNBA and WNBPA will come to an settlement by Friday?
📹: @WillDespart pic.twitter.com/PIidg0ELzl
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) January 7, 2026
Stewart was honored on behalf of herself and fellow WNBPA vice chairman Napheesa Collier because the duo obtained the 2025 Sports activities Illustrated Innovator(s) of the Yr Award behind their efforts in co-founding Unequalled, the 3×3 offseason ladies’s basketball league that offered WNBA gamers with an alternative choice to spending their winter abroad.
“Being Innovator of the Yr with Napheesa is a large accomplishment and honor,” Stewart mentioned. “It reveals all of the success that we’ve got from Unequalled in 12 months one and what we will have in 12 months two. I feel that we’re simply ensuring that we’ve got an area for skilled feminine athletes on a regular basis the place you are capable of get the very best content material, you are capable of see completely different offers, and actually perceive gamers’ tales on and off the courtroom.”
Whereas Collier was unable to attend the ceremony, she lately expressed confidence {that a} deal between the league and the WNBPA could possibly be reached within the close to future. Contemplating the place Collier and WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert stood just some brief months in the past, the latest positivity looks like a step towards an inevitable answer.
“I do suppose a deal’s gonna get finished,” Collier mentioned on Monday’s Unequalled broadcast. “We’re standing agency in what we imagine in. We’re not going to again down, and we won’t take much less. The game has simply grown an excessive amount of, it will be a disservice to the individuals who got here earlier than us, to the work that we put in, to take lower than what we’re owed.”
Reddit and Angel Metropolis FC co-founder Alexis Ohanian introduced Stewart with the award on Tuesday. He credited Stewart and Collier for his or her efforts to maneuver the sport ahead, expressing confidence {that a} deal will get finished with the league whereas additionally noting the demand for ladies’s basketball as a complete.
“There may be extra proof than ever for the worth of girls’s sports activities and girls’s basketball particularly,” Ohanian mentioned. “And what’s that proof? It is viewership numbers. It’s attendance, model {dollars}. In America, the ‘ball do not lie’ second is when the free market says that is precious.
“The best way the free market says it is undeniably precious is thru viewership, attendance, and income. On each a kind of marks, it’s been the highest ladies’s staff sport in America. I feel all of us need to see each events come collectively in an amazing WNBA season, so I feel they’re going to get it sorted.”
