You got a chance to play with Steph, yeah? How was that experience? Did you see that he would become the guy who he is today? Monta Ellis: No, I didn’t. But I knew he worked hard though. He definitely would pay attention to the things I was doing; he paid a whole lot of attention to it and he put that into his game. Now, when he came around, it was just — it was messy. He just came into a messy situation, messy environment. You had teammates that were talking stuff to the owners about what the players were doing at the time, this and that. So, he came in — it was messy. But did I know he was going to be that? Nah. But he did work hard though. So now, seeing it? Not surprised. Not surprised. Because of the work. Once you learn — even with him, though — he came in small. Once he figured out how to be able to get strong and take physicality, that’s when his career changed.

Kevin Pelton: The headline for any new CBA will undoubtedly be increased salaries for players. The last renegotiation boosted the maximum salaries for stars from $117,500 in 2019 to $215,000 in 2020, with the cap jumping by more than 30% from $996,100 per team to $1.3 million. Larger increases are likely this time thanks to improved WNBA revenue streams. One team source said it’s possible max salaries could reach $1 million, which would be an increase of approximately 300% from the current $249,244 supermax and would imply a salary cap in the range of $4 million to $5 million per team.

Still, is there concern about a conflict of interest for Collier and Stewart regarding what’s best for their financial investment in Unrivaled and that league’s players vs. the rest of the WNBA players? Jackson said she has not heard that to be the case from the WNBPA membership. “In its inaugural year, Unrivaled secured a broadcast deal, attracted new sponsors and lucrative partnerships, invested in player resources, paid salaries that averaged $220K for a 10-week season, and almost broke even,” Jackson said. “Current players built Unrivaled, and while I am sure there are more than a few lessons learned, they showed us — the union and the league — a whole lot. What we’ve heard from our members is that Unrivaled sent a message, a strong message about the still untapped potential and resources in women’s sports.”