The league’s concern is that the Mystics, for example, could become a more attractive destination for free agents if players believe they also could get a promising and lucrative job with the Wizards by signing in Washington. … I think it’s good business.”Leonsis’s attitude toward Toliver’s situation reflects his broader thoughts on the new, player-friendly CBA. This corrects the WNBA’s former half-pay policy, which compelled four-time WNBA All-Star Skylar Diggins-Smith to both conceal and play through her pregnancy for the entire 2018 WNBA season. Last week, the WNBA and WNBPA announced a new CBA. The new eight-year CBA, which commences with the 2020 season and runs through 2027, provides the foundation to chart a new course for women’s professional basketball. But Engelbert and Jackson said opening the door for other veteran players to accept coaching positions without restriction was a critical part of expanding career development opportunities and improving the league’s coaching diversity initiatives.“That’s kind of what it was born out of, really just a thought that we’re proud some former WNBA players are coaching in the professional men’s league,” said Engelbert, who started her term as commissioner in July. The new WNBA and WNBPA CBA offers better pay, travel benefits, a “supermax” for select top players New, 10 comments Let’s break down the benefits of the WNBA CBA on a … “We need a pipeline. 6.7k twitter mentions All in all, we should commend both the WNBA and the WNBPA for its “‘OnLabor is a blog devoted to workers, unions, and their politics. “Because it’s a unique one, and hopefully it won’t be for years to come.”Toliver remains the only active WNBA player coaching on an NBA staff. But as with Toliver’s case, he believes investing in players will be good for the league’s bottom line.“What we’ve just done now is increase our expenses. It was an unprecedented issue: In becoming the first active WNBA player to serve as an NBA assistant in 2018, Toliver tested the league’s competitive fairness rules in a way no one else had.Toliver had her agent, Erin Kane; Leonsis; and other executives from Monumental pleading her case to the league. For example, according to That said, a unique dynamic underlaid this compensation negotiation: WNBPA player-members strongly desired an equal (50%) share of WNBA revenues to match the virtually equal revenue partnership their male NBPA counterparts enjoy with the NBA. Leonsis’s attitude toward Toliver’s situation reflects his broader thoughts on the new, player-friendly CBA. “The fact that Kristi had gone after that opportunity and really made herself available to it and really looked to open up new doors for her in her post-playing career really meant a lot to me,” Jackson said. “And if we did that to the Go-Go, the Wizards players would think less of us and the Mystics players would think less of us. “It was something that we knew very clearly we had to protect, we had to address.”The crux of Toliver’s issue last year was that she was coaching for an NBA team that shared an owner, Monumental Sports and Entertainment chief executive Ted Leonsis, with the WNBA team for which she plays.The restrictions built into the provision are designed to ensure that a job with an NBA team is not used to entice a player to sign with a specific WNBA team. Just like corporate America needs a pipeline for future executives, we need a pipeline for future coaches. There’s no new revenue that’s been promised to us. The new CBA is poised to provide major improvements in pay and benefits to WNBA players while assuring league officials that their players will prioritize the WNBA over foreign leagues. Los Angeles Sparks forward Chiney Ogwumike praised the agreement in a Twitter thread, saying she was “soooo proud of our new WNBA CBA.” She … The WNBA labor deal promises that average compensation for players will exceed six figures for the first time and offers vastly improved maternity and child-care benefits, increasing expenses for a league that operates at a loss. Sashi Brown, the chief planning and operations officer for Monumental’s basketball division, drew on his background as a lawyer and began working on the issue in late summer. Why not use our platform here as the WNBA to do that?”Although the new CBA doesn’t take effect until May, Toliver already is earning what the Wizards say is a competitive salary to coach.
The CBA will run through the 2027 season.Leonsis acknowledged the new contract was a large investment for owners. We interpret our subject broadly to include the current crisis in the traditional union movement (why union decline is happening and what it means for our society); the new and contested forms of worker organization that are filling the labor union gap; how work ought to be structured and managed; how workers ought to be represented and compensated; and the appropriate role of government – all three branches – in each of these issues.Ross Evans is a student at Harvard Law School and a member of the Labor and Employment Lab. Five teams in the 12-team WNBA share an owner with an NBA club.Although both the league and the players’ union were eager to correct the previous rule that kept Toliver from earning a competitive salary for both of her jobs, it took months to negotiate. The workplace benefits historically marginalized groups enjoy from unionization are well-documented. The new WNBA CBA should change the landscape of the league for the better, providing bigger payouts for its players and better personal benefits as women’s basketball strives for a …