WNBA Gives Players Ultimatum

Another labor dispute could delay the start of another basketball season.

The WNBA has given its players until Saturday to reach a contract agreement with the league.

At the center of the disagreement is salaries, just as it was when the NBA locked out its players for six months, including nearly half the season.

The union wants a minimum salary of $45,000 for the three-month summer season. The WNBA is proposing $20,000, according to the union.

"The whole purpose of having a women's professional basketball league in the United States is because women are tired of going overseas," Coquese Washington, a guard for the New York Liberty and also a lawyer, told USA Today. "We want to make a career out of something we are very good at."

WNBA president Val Ackerman said the league offered a 30 percent increase in player salaries, year-round health, dental and maternity benefits and offseason career programs. The league said the compensation package is worth $60,000 a player.

The two sides also are at odds over the number of players from the defunct American Basketball League that should be allowed in the league. The WNBA wants 52 of the 90 eligible players and wants to expand rosters to accommodate them. The union wants 24.

Ackerman told USA Today the WNBA doesn't believe there should be restrictions on the number of ABL players.

"They will all go into the (April 27) draft together," Ackerman said. "Our plan is to allocate an additional player to (expansion) Minnesota and Orlando so that they'll end up with two allocated players, like everyone else did to start their rosters."

The WNBA has a tryout camp April 15-17 in Chicago. That camp could be jeopardized by the stalemated negotiations.

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