What Historic New WNBA CBA Means For 2026 Seattle Storm

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="5030"]

Seattle Storm forward Nneka Ogwumike (3) on the court after a win over the Golden State Valkyries at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: John Froschauer-Imagn Images [/caption]

Play ball. After weeks of intense negotiations, the WNBA and the WNBPA verbally agreed to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement early in the morning on Wednesday that will completely reshape player compensation, per ESPN’s Alexa Philipou.

The new salary cap will be set at $7 million, a massive increase from $1.5 million in 2025, with the supermax starting at $1.4 million ($249,244 last season), per ESPN’s Shams Charania. 

Average player salaries will be around $600,000 ($120,000 last season), and the minimum salary could be higher than $300,000 ($66,079 last season). All of that, coupled with a revenue share of “nearly 20% across the length of the deal,” per Philippou, makes for a historic deal.

The even better news for WNBA fans, the league and the players is that commissioner Cathy Engelbert said there should be no delay to the start of the 2026 season, which is currently set to begin May 8.

“I think this can be summed up in two words: player empowerment ... players coming to the table and standing on business and being reminded of the collective voice and of what it means to be in a union and the power of this union,” WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson said, per Philippou. “They never forgot it, and they have taken it, like they always do, to the next level.”

The process isn’t completely a done deal, as “a formal term sheet still needs to be finalized, and the agreement is pending ratification by the players and the WNBA board of governors,” per Philippou. But there are no indications, at least for now, suggesting that it should be a hiccup.

Seattle Storm forward and WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike released a statement on Wednesday on behalf of the players union. 

Ogwumike and the WNBPA’s mission was to ensure “the players who power [the league] must grow with it,” and through lengthy discussion, “this CBA delivers on that commitment,” she said.

“For the first time, player salaries are tied to a truly meaningful share of league revenue, driving exponential growth in the salary cap, increasing average compensation beyond half a million dollars, and raising the professional standard across facilities, staffing and support,” Ogwumike said. “It strengthens housing and retirement, and expands resources for family planning and parental leave. It redefines what it means to be a professional in this league.”

Ogwumike, like the majority of the veterans in the league, is a free agent this offseason. At 35 years old, Ogwumike will only have a few seasons (at the most) to enjoy the agreement as a player. But the WNBPA executive committee, including Ogwumike, Breanna Stewart, Alysha Clark and Brianna Turner, has been steadfast in its commitment to the future of the league.

The biggest offseason question is answered, and a season is going to happen on time. So what’s next for the Storm and the league?

Projected offseason schedule

It’s going to be all systems go as the league and players try to cram a busy offseason into less than two months.

The league still has to conduct two expansion drafts for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo, 80% of the league’s veterans need to sign new contracts, there’s the college draft, and then training camp. And that’s all going to be in just the next four weeks.

Here’s the projected schedule, per ESPN’s Kendra Andrews, which remains subject to change.

• March 18: New CBA is verbally agreed upon
• April 1-6: Portland and Toronto expansion draft (time period includes protecting players, coin flip and draft).
• April 7-18: Free agency (designation and negotiations April 7-11, contract can be signed April 12-18).
• April 13: WNBA Draft
• April 19: Training camp begins
• April 25: First preseason games played
• May 8: Regular season begins

April is going to be a wild month for the WNBA — the complete opposite of the pace since the 2025 season ended in early October. For the last five months, outside of the coaching carousel, very little has changed.

Even as the majority of players were gearing up for a free agency period that could completely shift the powers of the league, it was a holding pattern until the CBA was ironed out. Now, prepare for a frenzy.

What it means for Storm

The Storm have just four players under contract for 2026: Dominique Malonga, Nika Muhl, Jordan Horston and Lexie Brown.

They have eight unrestricted free agents (Gabby Williams, Skylar Diggins, Brittney Sykes, Ezi Magbegor, Katie Lou Samuelson, Erica Wheeler, Tiffany Mitchell and Ogwumike) and a pair of reserved free agents (Mackenzie Holmes and Zia Cooke).

Seattle may only be able to protect five players in the upcoming expansion drafts since there are two teams building rosters instead of one. Unrestricted free agents can be protected, allowing the Storm to potentially keep a prized player like Williams.

Many of the Storm’s unrestricted free agents will likely be left unprotected, however. Skylar Diggins and Ogwumike are ineligible to be selected in an expansion draft.

That will be the first step toward seeing what the Storm’s roster will look like in 2026. They have the No. 3 overall pick in the WNBA Draft, and there’s going to be more variance in how teams spend their money now that the salary cap is much higher.

But the increased cap also makes it more likely that Seattle could bring back players like Williams, Ogwumike, Diggins, Sykes and others, even if those players are trying to cash out before retiring. There’s more wiggle room for negotiations.

At this point, it’s almost as likely we see a similar Storm team to 2025 as it is that we see a completely different roster.

The 2025 team was immensely talented, but they underachieved under former head coach Noelle Quinn. Eventually, the franchise will have to turn a new page to a younger core of players, but pairing the third overall pick with Malonga and familiar elite veterans still allows them to move in that direction.

New head coach Sonia Raman will be able to see her own vision for the roster through with the potential turnover and contract flexibility. The only certainty is that Malonga will be the face of the franchise moving forward.

All teams, for the most part, are in the same boat. Those who have been in the basement of the league should be expected to be extra aggressive in pursuing stars with all the new money. That’s the main threat to the Storm if they hope to retain their own free agents.