Paige Bueckers' superstar teammate Arike Ogunbowale projects first million-dollar WNBA salaries expectations from new CBA

Last year, Arike Ogunbowale, a player representative for the WNBPA, and the rest of the players preemptively opted out of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which expires at the end of this season. At the top of the group's wishlist is higher annual salaries.

Ahead of the 2025 season, Ogunbowale spoke with reporters about the situation, with USA Today's Meghan L. Hall relaying quotes to fans via X, formerly Twitter.

As Ogunbowale explained, the biggest thing she hopes to see out of the new WNBA contracts going forward, once the WNBA and WNBPA ratify a new CBA, is bigger checks for players.

"What would I like to see? Zeros. A lot of zeros," she said. "The talent is there. The product is there. Now, we need to be compensated for it ... There needs to be multiple million-dollar players."

Kelsey Mitchell is the highest-paid WNBA player heading into the 2025 season, earning a basic salary of $249,244. Arike Ogunbowale and Las Vegas guard Jewell Loyd are tied for second place with base salaries of $249,032.

Considering the new CBA that will be ratified before the start of the 2026 season, a number of players have positioned themselves to hit free agency this summer so that they can sign bigger contracts.

Arike Ogunbowale and fellow players set sights on larger contracts, the possibility of a lockout looms overhead

The term "lockout" is familiar to many NBA and WNBA fans. Despite this, lockouts are quite uncommon. While there has never been a WNBA lockout, the NBA's last stoppage occurred before the 2011-12 season.

At the time, players wanted a larger share of revenue, much like WNBA players do now. The difference, however, is that the WNBA only owns 42% of the league.

The NBA, which subsidizes the W, owns another 42%, and an investment group owns another 16%.

As a result, players fighting for a larger piece of the revenue could be facing an uphill battle.

Despite that, WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike said during an appearance on First Take at the end of March that the players are prepared to stand firm.

"No one wants a lockout, but I think we have to stand firm in what we think we deserve in this new CBA," she said.

According to CBS Sports, preliminary talks between the WNBA and WNBPA took place in December, but since then, there has been no movement on a new deal. With players looking to negotiate a revenue split equal to the 50% that NBA players receive, only time will tell how things play out.