David Samson predicts WNBA could ‘fold’ if ‘players get too greedy’

While the WNBA owners and players continue to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement, stars are peeling off for competing leagues.

The longer both those things continue to happen, according to Meadowlark Media commentator David Samson, the greater the chance that the WNBA goes away completely.

In an appearance Thursday on The Dan Le Batard Show, Samson laid out the possibility that with players exercising their leverage so strongly in CBA talks, they may have backed themselves into a corner that forces them to act boldly themselves.

“What I’m telling you is that if the players get too greedy, that will be the end of the WNBA,” Samson said. “But that won’t be the end of the world for them, because they have options.”

As Samson sees it, the players oversold how much they could get done in a single CBA. Whether by wearing strongly worded t-shirts during the All-Star break, calling out the commissioner, or demanding a higher portion of league revenue, WNBA players have been bold and public with their complaints.

And the players have also made no secret of their ability to compete and be compensated elsewhere. The second season of Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 league out of Miami that airs games on TNT and pays more on average than the WNBA, begins Jan. 5. And a Saudi-backed traveling international league called Project B has recently begun signing stars including union president Nneka Ogwumike to seven-figure contracts.

“If you had any ability to invest, and you wanted to start a league to compete with the WNBA, this is the time. Every player is a free agent. All of them want money and need money,” Samson said. “If you have a well-capitalized and well-funded business … that could be the end of the WNBA.”

If a majority of players were to collectively flee to a competitor, the WNBA as we know it would cease to exist.

While Samson stated that he does not believe the players are making a mistake by pushing hard for sweeping changes in these talks, he does not believe that owners will budge. Which means that if players value the geography and structure of playing in the NBA-owned, American league, they may have to accept less than what they are calling for.

“If the players’ association believes that Adam Silver is going to cave, they are wrong,” he added. “But I would be very careful being cocky if I’m the WNBA players’ association … owners don’t care. If the WNBA folds, they will be just fine.”

For now, the WNBPA and team owners continue to negotiate in good faith. They appear quite far apart on many topics, but are trading counter-proposals while largely remaining respectful in public commentary.

At the same time, Caitlin Clark and A’ja Wilson — arguably the two biggest women’s basketball stars in the world — both are tied solely to the WNBA. Both also have lucrative endorsement contracts with Nike likely tied to their playing on the biggest possible stage, which is still the WNBA.

Samson said talks could go on for many more months before his assertion comes to pass, but his comments put into perspective how existential these talks have become.

WNBA players on Thursday voted almost unanimously to authorize a strike, a move that would allow the union’s executive committee to declare a strike at any time. The current deadline for a new CBA is Jan. 9.