The WNBA and Women’s National Basketball Players Association have reached an agreement on a moratorium for league business, sources told ESPN on Monday.
The moratorium is necessary because the sides failed to reach an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement or an extension of the previous one by Friday’s deadline.
Negotiations continue on a new CBA amid what has become a bitter impasse as the sides work toward what both acknowledge will be a transformative deal. They remain far apart on several key issues, including, chiefly, the structure of a revenue-sharing system.
With the previous deal expired, the sides entered a period called status quo, in which the working conditions of the former CBA are maintained.
WNBA front offices were told last week that teams should prepare to extend qualifying offers and core designations under the expired agreement, sources said. But it was widely expected that players would not want to sign contracts while a new salary system with expected massive increases in compensation is still being bargained. All but two of the league’s veterans are free agents this offseason in anticipation of a new CBA.
The moratorium would halt those initial stages of free agency in which teams would seek to deliver qualifying offers and core designations to players.
ESPN’s Alexa Philippou contributed to this report.
