Sources: WNBA, players extend CBA for 30 days

The WNBA and WNBPA agreed Thursday to a 30-day extension of the current collective bargaining agreement through Nov. 30, sources confirmed.

The current CBA was set to expire Friday, a scenario that would have opened the door to a possible strike by players or lockout initiated by owners.

ESPN reported Tuesday that the WNBA had offered the players' association the extension of the CBA. The extension follows a similar path to the most recent round of CBA negotiations after the 2019 season, when the two sides agreed to a 60-day extension before agreeing to a new deal in January 2020.

There have been multiple meetings this week between the WNBA and WNBPA as part of negotiations, which have centered on how the league's salary cap is determined. The WNBA has proposed sizable increases to the league's minimum and maximum salaries, reflecting increased revenue generated by the WNBA since the last CBA was signed.

Though the league's proposal maintains revenue targets that could allow players to share in future growth, the salary cap would remain fixed during the deal if those targets are not met. The WNBPA has countered with offers that would tie the salary cap to basketball-related income, similar to the way the NBA, NFL and NHL have long operated.

The NWSL also adopted a model that shares revenue in its most recent CBA, signed last year.

The two sides have traded sharp words over that disconnect.

Last week, NBA commissioner Adam Silver's comments on the "TODAY Show" that WNBA players will get a "big increase" in salaries, while pointing to "absolute numbers" as the way to measure that growth, as opposed to the share of revenue. The league has said that "the players' association has yet to offer a viable economic proposal and has repeatedly refused to engage in any meaningful way on many of our proposal terms," and that it has offered an uncapped revenue-sharing model that is directly tied to the league's performance.

The union has countered those claims, saying the league has "run out the clock, put lipstick on a pig and retread a system that isn't tied to any part of the business and intentionally undervalues the players. The fact that the league now wants to call any part of its proposal 'uncapped' is precisely why its leadership, transparency and accountability are being challenged right now."

The Athletic was the first to report the news of the 30-day extension.

ESPN's Alexa Philippou contributed to this story.