Aces guards Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young said Friday that while they are both hoping for a WNBA season, they stand with the players’ union as negotiations with the league for a new collective bargaining agreement approach the 11th hour.
“This league’s continued growing. There’s a lot of momentum right now. So of course we want to play,” Gray said via Zoom from a Team USA minicamp in Miami. “It’s just that balance of making sure that we feel that we’re in the right place to play and when that time comes.”
Following a WNBPA vote, players authorized the executive committee in December to call a strike “when necessary.” In a player call last week, over half of the player’s in the union’s executive leadership reportedly agreed to keep a strike on the table.
Gray, the Aces’ primary player representative in the union, is one of the players open to a strike.
“Obviously, financially, that comes into play,” she said. “But I think there’s also this mentality (of) where does it stop? Are you comfortable doing it individually? And that’s everybody’s choice. But for me, yeah… if this doesn’t come out to what we want, then I’m OK doing that.”
Young and Gray went straight from playing in the Unrivaled offseason 3-on-3 league to preparing to represent Team USA at the FIBA World Cup Qualifying Tournament from March 11-17 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Young said that she’s doing extra workouts to make sure she’s ready for 5-on-5 basketball overseas and in Las Vegas.
“I’m preparing to play. I can’t just sit and not work out, you know. So my thing is, I’m just still trying to get in the best shape possible,” Young said. “I think both sides want a season and want to play. So I’m just kind of preparing my mind, as I usually do at this point in time, to get ready for a season.”
Gray said that it’s her job as the Aces’ player rep to keep her teammates in the loop on the status of negotiations.
“I think we’re all just fighting for what we think we deserve. We just want to feel valued. I think that’s the biggest thing,” Young said. “Sometimes you have to have hard conversations.”
CBA drama
Labor talks took a dramatic turn this week, starting with a letter from two WNBPA executive committee members that was leaked Monday. The letter expressed discontent with the current state of negotiations, sparking rumors of turmoil within the union.
By Wednesday, the entire seven-member executive committee released a statement saying that it remains “united” and sharing results of a player survey that agreed the league’s current counterproposal “is not worth taking.”
Gray noted that disagreements are a normal part of progress.
“We’re still in this fight to get what we deserve. I think our union still sees that as our main focus,” said Gray, the Aces’ primary player representative in the union. “With any transformation, I think there’s going to be conversations and debates that happen behind the scenes. But I think everybody wants the same common goal: to be paid, to be treated, to be valued like we should.”
The provocative letter was signed by WNBPA executive committee members Kelsey Plum and Breanna Stewart and addressed to WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson, expressing “serious concerns about how the PA is handling the current negotiations,” according to ESPN. It also reportedly cited a “lack of adequate player involvement in the process” in 18 months of negotiations.
Also in Miami with USA Basketball, Stewart said the letter wasn’t meant to diminish Jackson or divide the union. Plum, a former Aces guard, declined to comment.
When asked for her perspective on how communication has been with the union’s negotiators, Gray said it’s been “fine,” adding that she’s been able to have clarifying conversations regarding where the union stands when necessary.
The league said last month that a new CBA agreement would need to be signed by March 10 to prevent a delay of the WNBA’s scheduled May 8 tipoff for the 2026 season.
The league did not respond to one of the WNBPA’s proposals for six weeks to start the year, necessitating a series of quick exchanges recently. The WNBPA submitted a counterproposal on Feb. 27. The league sent one of its own March 2, to which the union has yet to answer.
The league’s new offer did not offer a change in proposed revenue share, which has been the main point of contention.
Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Callie__Fin on X.
