NEW YORK (AP) — A landmark new WNBA collective bargaining agreement was reached in principle early Wednesday morning that will give the league its first million dollar players.
There's still a lot of work to do between now and the start of the on May 8, however.
Lawyers on both sides are finalizing the term sheet for players and the league's Board of Governors to approve, which should be done in the next day or so. The union will have informational sessions with its players to walk them through key terms, answer questions and make sure they understand what the deal means for them. It will then get put to a vote with a majority needed to ratify the CBA. The league's Board of Governors will then need to approve the deal before it becomes official.
Then the sprint to the start of the season begins.
Expansion draft
First up will be the expansion draft for the two new teams — Toronto and Portland. Rules regarding who the current teams will be able to protect and how the draft will work are still being figured out. The draft is expected to take place right around the Final Four.
The league had an expansion draft last year for the Golden State Valkyries, but that was just one team and most of the players weren't free agents.
The 13 other teams will submit a list of players they are protecting to the Tempo and Fire, who will then figure out who they will chose.
Free agency and college draft
More than 80% of the league are free agents this year as players had signed deals that were going to expire last year. There are only two veteran players that aren't under rookie contracts who are signed for this season.
The teams will need to understand the new CBA in realtime to figure out deals. Usually teams have a few weeks to court free agents to join their franchise and that time will be most likely cut in half. The front offices of teams will have only days to decide which restricted free agents to extend offers to and which one to give a franchise tag.
There's a chance that many players may just re-sign with their current teams for a year and then revisit free agency a year later. They also could go after the money and accept a bigger contract from a team they might not know as much about.
The college draft is scheduled for April 13 in New York. Franchises have been doing their due diligence on draft eligible college players over the last few months. With so much turnover in rosters potentially with free agency movement, players could rise or fall on the draft board based on franchises having different needs.
Training camps open
Teams will start training camp on April 19 and will have little time to get prepared for the regular season. There are five new coaches in the league who will be implementing their own systems as well as the potentially large movement of free agents. There also could be major roster turnover so players will have to get accustomed to each other. There's a marquee game on April 25 in New York with Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever facing the Liberty.
League business
Off the court, the WNBA has a lot to do before the season tips off. The league is celebrating it's 30th anniversary with a whole host of activities. There's also new sponsorship deals to announce and broadcast schedules to put out.
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