In the spring of 2003, as February became March became April, the WNBA remained stuck in labor negotiations. The league was still young enough for its existence to seem fragile. Two franchises had folded that offseason and two more had announced plans to relocate. The players had no hope of receiving meaningful pay increases: The league had proposed raising the veteran minimum only very modestly, from $40,000 to $41,200, and initially proposed cutting the rookie minimum and restricting higher salaries for lottery picks. As negotiations grew increasingly tense, NBA commissioner David Stern argued that any further delay would imperil not just the start of the season but the larger fate of the WNBA.
“We want to roll up our sleeves with the players and make this a permanent landmark on the American sports scene,” Stern told reporters that April. “We’ll see whether the players want to do it with us or not.”
