Shortly before tip-off of the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game, the players took the floor for warm-ups. Instead of their league-issued gear, they were wearing T-shirts with a clear message regarding their ongoing collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the league: "Pay us what you owe us.

Captain Napheesa Collier led her team to victory, but the battle for a new CBA took center stage at the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game.

Players on Team Clark and Team Collier warmed up for Saturday night’s WNBA All-Star Game in shirts that read “Pay us what you owe us.”

INDIANAPOLIS — As WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert held a press conference in the depths of Gainbridge Fieldhouse ahead of Saturday night’s All-Star Game, players used their pregame warmups as a chance to send a message. “Pay us what you owe us,” the T-shirts worn by each player read.

Forty WNBA players sat down with two owners and commissioner Cathy Engelbert for a CBA meeting during All-Star festivities, but many players left frustrated.

New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart told reporters on Friday that the players' meeting with the league to discuss a new collective bargaining agreement on Thursday was a "wasted opportunity" and that there was "not really" any progress made.

The league sits at the precipice of a pivotal financial fork in the road in the form of negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. The WNBA and its players boast enviable momentum and a great product. They can’t afford to squander those favorable conditions with squabbling and a work stoppage in 2026.

This is exactly what Engelbert seemed to do with Minnesota Lynx players Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman (who are setting the women's basketball world ablaze with their "Studbudz" live stream on Twitch) on Friday night, as was seen dancing with these two players at a bar in downtown Indianapolis.