WNBA, players won’t extend CBA deadline as negotiations continue

MIAMI — On the eve of the deadline for the WNBA collective bargaining agreement, Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association vice president Breanna Stewart on Thursday said there won’t be an extension as each side plans to continue negotiating in good faith.

“We’re not coming to an agreement by tomorrow, I can tell you that,” Stewart said after practice for the Unrivaled league’s Mist practice. “We’re just gonna continue to negotiate in good faith.”

The WNBA and Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association remain at an impasse more than 14 months since players initially opted out of the current CBA.

Some players at Unrivaled expressed frustration — but not surprise — at the state of negotiations this week.

“Not good, not bad,” Chelsea Gray said. “Not as good as we hoped at this point.”

“It’s a battle,” Alyssa Thomas said. “It’s a lot of work to be done.”

Asked about her confidence heading into Friday night’s CBA deadline, Phantom guard and WNBPA vice president Kelsey Plum, a star for the WNBA’s Sparks, briefly paused before letting out a titter.

Sources confirmed that neither the WNBA nor the players’ union have offered an extension to the current CBA, which is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. Friday. Stewart, a forward for the league’s Liberty, said people shouldn’t hold their breath for that to happen.

With an agreement expected not to happen, the league will enter a period of status quo, which means it’ll operate business as usual as the two sides continue to hash out details at the bargaining table.

That said, a potential work stoppage remains on the table.

In mid-December, the WNBPA authorized its executive committee to call for a strike “when necessary.” The union said 93 percent of players participated in the vote, and 98 percent voted “yes.”

Stewart said the strike authorization vote was more so to show that the union remains “all on the same page.”

“We all are understanding where we’re at,” Stewart said. “It’s not something that we’re going to do right this second but being able to have that in our back pocket and, like, listen, we want to negotiate. We want to be able to continue, like, hopefully there’ll be a point where we can have meetings down here because obviously we can’t go to New York because we’re playing but let’s see how many people we can get in Miami and meet.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.