The Portland Fire’s new general manager Vanja Černivec was introduced to the media this week ahead of the WNBA team’s inaugural season next year. The executive was pelted with a series of questions related to the club’s immediate future.
They were difficult to answer.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” she told reporters. “There’s a lot of unknowns.”
The comments from the outgoing Golden State Valkyries vice president of basketball operations represent the league’s state of uncertainty, as concern grows about the possibility of collective bargaining negotiations exceeding the Oct. 31 deadline. Černivec, like other general managers around the league, says she’s planning as if a new agreement will be struck before November.
“If that doesn’t happen, then we’ll have to pivot and be ready for the unknown,” Černivec said.
As the WNBA’s regular season winds down next month, the ongoing CBA negotiations are also entering a critical time window. There’s a sentiment from the players union side that a deal is unlikely to be done before the deadline, with union leaders accusing the W representatives of having a lack of urgency. The league maintains it is focused on player priorities but also the long-term growth for teams as it prioritizes getting a deal done.
“At the end of the day, we know what we want,” Washington Mystics center Stefanie Dolson, a CBA player committee member, told Sportico. “If they meet that, then they meet it and if not, we’re going to continue to fight because we know the kind of product we put out there.”
There are a couple pathways that are on the horizon if labor talks indeed go beyond Oct. 31.
This would either lead to a lockout that could eat into the 2026 season, which has never happened the league’s 29-year history, or the sides agree to an extension, which occurred during the last CBA negotiations in 2019 and remains the most likely outcome. A work stoppage, where players are blocked from entering team training facilities among other stipulations, could still happen if both sides still are at odds post extension.
“The reality is that everyone would love to get a deal done by the end of October,” ex-NBA Players Association deputy general counsel Hal Biagas said in a phone interview. “But you don’t really need a deal done until you get to the point where you don’t have enough time to start the season on time.”
There are potential repercussions that come with extending negotiations. Oct. 19 is the last possible WNBA Finals date if the series goes the full amount of games. If CBA talks go beyond Oct. 31, it would place pressure to delay key events like the fall WNBA Draft Lottery and expansion draft.
Last year, the Valkyries, the league’s 13th team, felt strategic benefits of having extra time between the expansion draft and free agency.
The biggest sticking point for a work stoppage during the offseason is the disruption of free agency. This is one of the most anticipated free-agent classes ever since more than 80% of the league’s players are set to be available. Most of the WNBA’s best players no longer on rookie contracts—from Sabrina Ionescu to A’ja Wilson—intentionally signed deals that expire after this season, expecting a substantial raise once the next CBA is complete.
Time might be running low on a new CBA before then—generating some uncertainty—but that is very different from time being out.
“Very few deals get done months in advance,” Pamela Wheeler, the founding director of the WNBPA, said in a video interview. “If go back and look at when these [CBAs] have gotten done and what the deadlines were, you’ll probably see a pattern.”
