New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart is doubling down on her support of WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson after a letter written by Stewart and Kelsey Plum became public. The players raised concerns about the union’s handling of CBA negotiations with the WNBA came to light earlier this week.
‘That letter was supposed to be… private,’ Stewart said during Team USA media availability on Friday. ‘It was unfortunate that it became public knowledge. I’m sure (the media) loved it, but I didn’t love it as much.’
Stewart and Plum, who both serve as vice presidents of the WNBPA executive committee, sent a three-page letter to Jackson that was obtained by ESPN. The letter cited ‘a lack of adequate player involvement in the process’ and warned of the harm a potential work stoppage would do to the league’s financial outlook.
The WNBPA executive committee responded by publicly backing the negotiating team of Jackson and players’ union president Nneka Ogwumike. Stewart again pledged her allegiance on Friday, adding the letter ultimately led to some ‘tougher’ conversations that got ‘the (executive committee) back on track.’
‘Plum and I had some concerns that we wanted to kind of address … making a path forward to really have the best deal possible,’ Stewart said. ‘But listen, Terri (Jackson) is our executive director. We know that she’s leading us in the best way possible. And while there might be some differences of opinions or questions that are being asked, it’s all in good faith of knowing that we want to make sure that we do what’s right for all the players.’
Stewart said the executive committee met on Tuesday, two days after the WNBA submitted a counterproposal to the players’ union on Sunday, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to USA TODAY. The proposal was in response to the WNBPA’s Feb. 27 submission.
On Wednesday, the WNBPA released a statement saying the league’s current proposal ‘is not worth taking.’ The executive committee also met on Thursday, Stewart added.
‘We had a little bit of a tougher call Tuesday night between the (executive committee) and then Thursday when we reconvened again, it just seemed a lot more productive,’ Stewart said. When asked when the WNBPA expects to respond to the league’s latest proposal, Stewart said she has ‘no idea.’
‘I don’t have any updates on when (the proposal) is going to be sent back,’ Stewart said. ‘We had a (executive committee) meeting (on Thursday) just talking about some topics that we want to address, but I don’t have specifics on when it’s going to go back.’
The WNBA said March 10 is the final day for a new CBA term sheet to be completed in order to avoid a delay to the start of the 2026 season, which is scheduled to tip off on May 8, as of now.
Stewart expressed concern on the season’s expected start date and said that uncertainty has impacted her training: ‘We don’t know when the start day is happening. That makes things a little bit more complicated as far as training. But what I do know is beginning of April, I’m going to Turkey. I’ll be there for two weeks.’
In the WNBA’s latest proposal, the league offered to make first- and second-team All-WNBA players on rookie contracts eligible to sign a maximum contract in their fourth year. Those players wouldn’t be eligible for a core designation following that extension. A player on a rookie scale contract that earns MVP could similarly be eligible for a supermax deal.
The WNBA’s latest offer also increased the Year 1 salary cap to $5.75 million, up from $1.5 million in 2025. Based on conservative league projections, the salary cap would grow to roughly $8.5 million by 2031 in the final year of this proposed CBA.
The league and WNBPA last met virtually on Feb. 23. More than 50 WNBA players were on the call, including the entire WNBPA executive committee, along with league staff, the labor relations committee and owners as CBA negotiations continue. Revenue sharing, and specifically what percentage of the league’s revenues will filter to the players moving forward, remains a key sticking point.
WNBA players voted in December to give the WNBPA executive committee the authority to ‘call a strike when necessary,’ a decision that ‘was not taken lightly,’ the WNBPA added on Wednesday.
‘Despite our differences and tough moments, we must make crystal clear that we are focused, we are resolute, and we are together,’ the WNBPA executive committee said. ‘We want to play basketball in 2026. We want to be in front of our fans playing the game that we love. We will not stop fighting. There is no WNBA without the players.’
Many players echoed those sentiments on Friday.
‘I want to play and I want us to figure it out,’ Phoenix Mercury guard Kahleah Copper said during her Team USA media availability. ‘I want us to be able to negotiate and both sides get something that they like and I would like us to figure it out quickly so that we can have a season.’
Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray added: ‘We’re still in this fight to get what we deserve. The state of our union still sees that as our main focus with any transformational (change), there’s going to be conversations and debates that happen behind the scenes, but everybody wants to do a common goal to be paid, to be treated, to be valued like we should.’
Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young said the players ‘want to play,’ but also ‘want to feel valued.’
‘We’re all just fighting for what we think we deserve. I just want to feel valued,’ Young added. ‘That’s the biggest thing. So I mean sometimes you have to have hard conversations to get to our goal.’
USA TODAY Sports reporter Meghan L. Hall and Mark Giannotto contributed to this story.
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