Breanna Stewart says WNBA players' CBA meeting with league was a 'wasted opportunity'

INDIANAPOLIS -- New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart told reporters on Friday that the players' meeting with the league to discuss a new collective bargaining agreement on Thursday was a "wasted opportunity" and that there was "not really" any progress made. The Women's National Basketball Players Association and the league met in Indianapolis for the first in-person discussions about a new CBA since December. The meeting lasted for multiple hours and featured dozens of players, including Stewart, Napheesa Collier, Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers. 

"I think [Thursday's] meeting was good for the fact that we could be in the same room as the league and the board of governors and that type of thing, but I think, to be frank, it was a wasted opportunity," Stewart said. "We could have really gotten into a deeper dive of everything, but we there was a lot of fluff that we couldn't get past, and it sucks because situations like that aren't gonna happen again because players are playing for different teams and different leagues and this is the only time to have a group together like this."

Stewart said that the two sides spent the first 45 minutes of the meetings mired in introductions she felt were unnecessary. "One would think," Stewart said with a smirk, when asked "Don't you already know each other?"

In October 2024, the WNBPA opted out of the current CBA, which will run through the end of the 2025 season. In the months since, little progress has been made on a new CBA that would prevent a work stoppage. The players have made it clear they are pushing for "transformational change" that goes beyond the salary increases that are a centerpiece of their demands. Notably, nearly every player that is not on a rookie scale contract will be a free agent this winter. 

"The biggest thing that's the hold up right now is we want more salaries, we want bigger salaries and that type of thing, but we want to talk about the percentages and the revenue share," Stewart said. "Based on their most recent proposal, we just aren't able to get to a place where we're actually even talking about the same thing. I think that's the hardest thing. Our first offer and then their counter was black and white."

From a logistical standpoint, this weekend represents the last opportunity to get all of the key figures from both sides in the same room. Stewart was frustrated that more wasn't accomplished before they have to return to video conferences and phone calls, and sharing documents through lawyers. 

"At some point these are conversations and topics that need to be addressed and I feel that both sides want to get them done, but at the same time we need to have a little bit more of a sense of urgency," Stewart said. "Because if we don't have it figured out at the end of the season, we have bigger things to worry about."

The WNBA has never had a work stoppage since it began in 1997. Neither side wants one now, when the league is experiencing unprecedented growth. But as the players' show of strength on Thursday proved -- more than 40 players were in attendance at the meeting -- they have no plans to budge on their demands. If the league didn't realize that before, it has now.

"I think what I could feel was [the league's] shock and maybe just realization of how important this is to us based on the number of people that were in the room," Stewart said. "I don't think they knew exactly how many players were gonna be there. It wasn't just All-Stars, players from different teams that have nothing going on this weekend and wanted to be here for this meeting."