'Pay Us What You Owe Us': Inside the WNBPA's statement-making All-Star Weekend

THE NOW-LEGENDARY 72-hour livestream from Stud Budz duo Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman near precise small unseen from the 2025 WNBA All-Star Weekend successful Indianapolis. But the Minnesota Lynx teammates' Twitch watercourse didn't afloat seizure 1 of the weekend's astir pivotal moments.

Nneka Ogwumike, president of the Women's National Basketball Players Association, was getting acceptable for the WNBPA's game-day meal astatine the Intercontinental Hotel successful downtown Indianapolis, erstwhile she saw Williams and Hiedeman's societal media manager, the 1 tasked with holding the telephone for the weekend-long stream. Williams and Hiedeman had sent him downstairs to bring backmost food, and helium was having occupation getting past WNBPA security.

Ogwumike took matters into her ain hands. She went upstairs to find a hungover Williams and Hiedeman inactive successful bed, wherever -- successful beforehand of the Stud Budz's 73,000 Twitch followers -- she implored Williams, an All-Star reserve, to get up for a players gathering successful 10 minutes.

It's not uncommon for players to bail connected the PA's yearly game-day gathering, which, a root adjacent to the national said, was started years agone arsenic a effect to the All-Stars not getting fed connected crippled day. Running from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., it's hardly appealing to get up that aboriginal coming disconnected a agelong nighttime out. But this time, things were different.

In betwixt stops astatine the omelet presumption and muffin display, the players utilized the process extremity of the meal to finalize their plans to deterioration achromatic shirts that work "Pay Us What You Owe Us" portion warming up for Saturday's All-Star Game. Once the shirts were revealed earlier tip-off, the connection traveled quickly, igniting statement astir the issues that person been simmering down the scenes arsenic players and the WNBA prosecute successful negotiations connected a caller corporate bargaining statement that some sides expect to beryllium transformative.

Two days earlier, implicit 40 players had shown up for an in-person bargaining league with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, members of the league's CBA committee and league counsel -- a gathering some players described aft arsenic a "wasted opportunity." It was meant arsenic a objection of power-in-numbers, but for implicit a week, sources with cognition of the union's readying told ESPN the 22 All-Stars had been discussing a acold much nationalist mode of utilizing the All-Star signifier to marque a statement.

In the past, national leaders mightiness person fixed a database of talking points to players to notation erstwhile they were inevitably asked astir the negotiations and however they hoped the caller CBA mightiness bespeak the WNBA's exponential maturation successful gross and taste resonance implicit the past fewer years arsenic young stars similar Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers entered the league. But sources said the players agreed it was important to marque 1 clear, concise and corporate statement.

The thought of a demonstration, and yet doing 1 with shirts, had been discussed by the enforcement assembly and informally among the All-Stars since the afloat rosters were decided. Everyone progressive liked the idea, but agreed it had to beryllium unanimous. Which is wherefore Ogwumike was truthful determined to aftermath up Williams, a subordinate of Team Collier, and get her to the meal meeting.

If immoderate of the 22 All-Stars objected to the idea, they wouldn't person gone done with it. But by the extremity of the night, it wasn't conscionable the players' solidarity that was unmistakable. As "pay them" chants rang from fans passim Gainbridge Fieldhouse erstwhile Engelbert presented Napheesa Collier the MVP trophy, it acceptable the signifier arsenic the communicative of the 2nd fractional of the WNBA play arsenic the existent CBA's precocious October expiration day looms.

"I cognize it's lone the halfway constituent of the year," a league root said, "but it whitethorn precise good beryllium the biggest infinitesimal successful sports for 2025."

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HEADING INTO THE All-Star break, the national had 2 main objectives: to get arsenic galore players arsenic imaginable to the in-person bargaining league with the league connected Thursday truthful they could perceive the league's presumption -- and the league could perceive theirs -- and to usage the game's level to its top impact.

The national worked to get precocious turnout for what would beryllium the archetypal in-person CBA gathering with players since December, yet yielding a radical of implicit 40 members -- veterans from Ogwumike, Breanna Stewart and Sydney Colson to newcomers Clark, Reese and Bueckers, and immoderate players who flew into municipality conscionable to be the meeting. So galore players turned retired that they had to bring much chairs to the table. The corporate showing harkened backmost to their all-players gathering to sermon societal justness issues and however to determination guardant arsenic a portion during the 2020 season, which was played successful a bubble successful Florida owed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the thought of making a basal astatine the All-Star Game -- successful beforehand of a sellout assemblage and during a prime-time tipoff connected ABC -- had been brewing good earlier players arrived successful Indianapolis.

It started with conversations with enforcement committee members, past expanded to bring aboard the different All-Stars erstwhile rosters were determined. It helped that 4 members of the union's apical enactment -- Ogwumike, archetypal vice president Kelsey Plum and vice presidents Collier and Stewart -- were tabbed arsenic All-Stars, 3 of them connected the aboriginal extremity arsenic starters.

According to league sources, players tossed astir assorted ideas -- specified arsenic holding the shot to tally retired the changeable clock. They wanted thing that didn't necessitate an explanation. That couldn't beryllium taken retired of context, misconstrued unintentionally oregon deliberately. Understanding determination could beryllium repercussions to thing radical, they shied distant from thing excessively disruptive.

The players gravitated toward the elemental yet nonstop connection of wearing shirts -- aft all, arsenic 1 subordinate told ESPN, "We cognize champion however to bash thing with a T-shirt."

T-shirts person been a conveyance of activism successful the WNBA for years. In the 2020 bubble, players donned "Vote Warnock" T-shirts to reason then-Atlanta Dream proprietor Kelly Loeffler and rise the illustration of Raphael Warnock, who was yet elected U.S. legislator successful Georgia, helping flip the Senate to an efficaciously Democratic majority. That aforesaid season, members of the Washington Mystics wore shirts with slug holes drawn connected them to protestation the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by police, earlier that night's games were postponed.

Talking CBA negotiations and however acold the WNBPA has travel since it was formed successful 1998. pic.twitter.com/LNoIofagWq

The league hasn't ever responded good to specified displays. In 2016, the WNBA initially fined teams and the players who wore shirts successful enactment of the Black Lives Matter question earlier a leaguewide outcry prompted then-WNBA president Lisa Borders to rescind them.

The caller CBA volition code a assortment of topics, everything from enlargement draught rules to household readying and status benefits. But the contented astatine the crux of the negotiations frankincense far, sources said, involves however the players' stock of the concern is determined.

Simply put, the players privation a strategy that allows them to gain a greater percent of the gross pastry arsenic the concern continues to grow. And to bash that, they archetypal privation to cognize however overmuch gross each squad is bringing in.

Ogwumike said Saturday successful Indianapolis that the league is proposing a strategy with a fixed percentage, portion the players privation "a amended stock wherever our salaries turn with the business, and not conscionable a fixed percent implicit time."

"We spot the maturation of the league, and arsenic it stands, the existent wage strategy is not truly paying america what we're owed," Ogwumike said aft the game. "And we privation to beryllium capable to person that just stock moving forward, particularly arsenic we spot each of the concern going in, and we privation to beryllium capable to person our salaries reflected successful a operation that makes consciousness for us."

For example, players privation an mentation for wherefore the accelerated increases successful valuations of franchises -- the Las Vegas Aces were purchased for $2 cardinal successful 2021 but are present valued astatine $310 million, according to Forbes, portion caller enlargement fees are coming successful astatine $250 cardinal aft the Golden State Valkyries paid $50 cardinal successful October 2023 -- can't pb to greater gross that past filters backmost to them.

"The players are what is gathering this marque and this league," Collier said. "There is nary league without the players, and past, present, the ones coming up, they're the ones that person enactment successful the blood, sweat and tears for the caller wealth that's coming in. And so, we consciousness we are owed a portion of the pastry that we helped create."

This sentiment was the genesis of the connection they ended up printing connected their warmup shirts, which were made anterior to arriving successful Indianapolis. Some person speculated that it came from a lyric successful Jay-Z's 2001 deed azygous "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" that contains the line, "pay america similar you beryllium us."

But according to sources with cognition of the discussions, the connection was a motion to merchandise from the National Women's Law Center, a spouse enactment and predominant assets for WNBPA, that reads "Pay Me What You Owe Me."

The WNBPA meal was their accidental to seal the determination and enactment their program into action. From the start, the players knew they weren't going to bash a corporate objection unless each of them agreed. The lone contented was that determination were All-Stars missing from that gathering, peculiarly from Team Clark, arsenic they recovered from the events of the play and parties from the nighttime before.

According to sources, astatine slightest 1 subordinate of Team Clark who attended the gathering was entrusted to guarantee the connection got delivered to the All-Stars who weren't astatine the breakfast. But to corroborate everyone was connected committee with the plan, Ogwumike, Collier and Stewart visited the Team Clark locker country earlier the game.

They were, and 22 of the astir disposable players successful the league -- young and old, first-timers to 10-time All-Stars -- unzipped their warmups to uncover the astonishment message, sending daze waves to those watching successful idiosyncratic and connected TV, passim Indianapolis and beyond.

"It was ace important that they each decided, 'Yes, we'll bash this,'" 1 league root said. "Caitlin did it, Angel did it. They were some astatine the [Thursday] meeting. Paige did it. They are bought in, they're superior astir this, and they're unified."

THE PLAYERS MIGHT person been hopeful that the assemblage of 16,000-plus successful Gainbridge Fieldhouse would enactment their pregame display. But they couldn't person anticipated the absorption they would get from those wrong the arena and the mode the players' CBA combat became the ascendant storyline coming retired of All-Star Weekend -- thing they judge tin assistance enactment unit connected the league erstwhile negotiations resume.

"The fans making that chant," Collier said postgame, "that gave maine chills."

"That instrumentality support," 1 root adjacent to the inaugural added, "it released a valve of unit for them."

On societal media the absorption was conscionable arsenic swift -- and beardown -- arsenic it was wrong the arena.

Support came from assorted ends of the governmental spectrum, from erstwhile archetypal woman and Democratic statesmanlike nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton to Barstool Sports laminitis Dave Portnoy.

I spot tons of morons trying to enactment similar WNBA players don't merit much money. They are throwing astir this "lost 50 million" fig that cipher adjacent knows wherever it comes from. The finances of the league are a mess, tied successful with NBA and purposely murkey. The owners don't...

But the adjacent day's quality rhythm was precise different. Instead of a treatment astir however players should payment from the maturation of the league, oregon however the league volition alteration erstwhile each the escaped agents who signed one-year contracts this wintertime successful anticipation of a caller CBA volition beryllium escaped agents again, an offhand remark from Plum spawned a precise antithetic discussion.

At her postgame quality league Plum attempted to lighten the mood. Plum, arsenic archetypal vice president of the player's association, had been progressive successful the readying of the T-shirts from the beginning, sources said. When she quipped, "not to tattletale, but zero members of Team Clark were precise contiguous for [the Saturday greeting meeting]," laughing arsenic she said it, she assumed everyone understood that she was joking astir partying excessively hard up of the aboriginal greeting meeting.

Without discourse Plum's comments landed arsenic either a changeable astatine Clark oregon arsenic a deficiency of solidarity successful the connection -- the benignant of misunderstanding the single, unified motion was expected to eliminate.

The WNBA regular play resumed Tuesday with 10 teams successful action. Basketball carried on, concern arsenic usual. But each eyes implicit the adjacent 3 months volition beryllium fixed connected what happens down the scenes.

Players expressed vexation that Thursday's gathering -- apt the past accidental to get truthful galore players astir the bargaining array -- didn't output much advancement arsenic the timepiece ticks toward the CBA's expiration date. Making matters adjacent much timely is that a two-team enlargement draught is expected to hap successful December with the accomplishment of teams successful Toronto and Portland, followed by the immense bulk of veterans hitting escaped bureau successful January.

Both sides person said they are hopeful they tin get a woody done and debar a enactment stoppage. But for now, WNBA players -- not conscionable the 22 All-Stars but the 130 oregon truthful others -- indispensable determine however they privation to physique disconnected the connection they made and the enactment they garnered. And spot whether they tin crook Saturday's momentum into lasting change.

"It was a great, really, truly large response," a league root said. "I deliberation that fuels them for the adjacent time."