The WNBA finals start Friday, but it’s not the matchup between the Las Vegas Aces and Phoenix Mercury that has basketball fans talking.
It’s the matchup between Minnesota Lynx’s five-times All-Star Napheesa Collier and WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after Collier ripped into the WNBA’s leadership in a post-season media conference Tuesday.
Collier, a vice president with the WNBA players’ union and co-founder of off-season 3×3 basketball league Unrivaled, accused the WNBA of a “tone-deaf, dismissive” approach to players. In her four-minute speech, Collier blasted Engelbert for being “negligent” in her governance.
“We have the best players in the world. We have the best fans in the world. But right now we have the worst leadership in the world,” Collier said Tuesday.
“[Officiating] has now reached levels of inconsistency that plague our sport and undermine the integrity in which it operates,” Collier told reporters. “They ignore the issues that everyone inside the game is begging to be fixed — that is negligence.”
Engelbert has since released a statement that she’s “disheartened” by Collier’s characterizations, and has the “utmost respect” for her and all WNBA players. But fans are flooding social media with calls for Engelbert, who became the league’s commissioner in 2019, to be fired.
“You’re a disgrace,” wrote one fan on X, as others told her to “pack your bags.”
The players, meanwhile, also appear to be backing Collier.
“I’m going to ride with Phee always,” said Aces star and MVP A’ja Wilson in response.
“Phee speaks for me,” Seattle Storm forward and WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike posted on X.
“When Phee speaks, people listen. We are confident that her words today speak to the feelings and experiences of many, if not most or all of our members,” the WNBA players association posted in a statement on Instagram.
But how did we even get here? What exactly is the issue? Let’s back up.
Hear an excerpt from Napheesa Collier, a player with the Minnesota Lynx, WNBA union rep and co-founder of a 3-on-3 basketball league, as she calls out commissioner Cathy Engelbert over league leadership.
Coach goes ‘scorched earth’ after Collier injury
Collier’s comments came after the Lynx’s Game 3 semi-final game against the Mercury on Friday, during which Collier suffered an ankle injury as Phoenix forward Alyssa Thomas stole the ball in the final minute of play. Thomas wasn’t called for a foul.
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve launched into an expletive-laden tirade against game officials after the incident. Or, to quote Sports Illustrated, she went “scorched earth.”
She pursued and berated a game official on the court, was slow to leave after her ejection with 21.8 seconds remaining, directed profanity toward fans while exiting and later launched into a blistering critique of the league’s officiating in her post-game press conference.
“I want to call for a change of leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating. It’s bad for the game. The officiating crew that we had tonight, for the leadership to deem those three people semi-finals playoff worthy is f–king malpractice,” Reeve said in the press conference.
The WNBA slapped her with a one-game suspension and a league record $15,000 US fine. Then, the Lynx were eliminated from the playoffs on Sunday in a Game 4 that Collier missed with her ankle injury and Reeve missed because she was suspended.
On Tuesday, Collier said she never heard from Engelbert about the call or her injury.
“Not one call, not one text. Instead, the only outreach has come from her No. 2 telling my agent that she doesn’t believe physical play contributed to injuries. That is infuriating,” Collier said.
“It’s the perfect example of the tone deaf, dismissive approach that our leaders always seem to take.”
Engelbert was also called out by players back in 2024 for not taking a stronger stand against hate speech and social media vitriol as players faced racist and misogynistic comments, USA Today reports.
Comments also come during negotiations
The remarks also come amid increasingly acrimonious collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations between the league and players. The current CBA is set to expire on October 31.
The two sides have been at odds over player pay, the union said in July, with young stars like Caitlin Clark driving new interest in the league and a new media rights deal kicking in next season.
“[Engelbert] told me ‘Players should be on their knees thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal that I got them’,” Collier said Tuesday. “That’s the mentality driving our league from the top.”
Engelbert did not address the specific comments Collier said she made in the private conversation, only saying that “perspectives differ.”
Women’s basketball has experienced a dramatic rise in popularity over the last few years, between the emergence of superstar players like Clark, the expansion of the WNBA, and a surge in March Madness viewership. But salaries remain a sore point.
For instance,the WNBA’s No. 1 draft pick Paige Bueckers was projected to earn just $78,831 US for her rookie year — about $109,480 Cdn, or less than the real median household income in the States. The No. 1 draft pick for the NBA, by comparison, can expect to earn $13.8 million US in his rookie year, according to sports salary reporting site Spotrac.
Many players supplement their incomes playing overseas during the off-season, an issue recently highlighted when WNBA player Brittney Griner was detained in Russia on drug-related charges that ended with a prisoner swap.
In July, the WNBPA admonished the league just ahead of the all-star game, saying the WNBA had failed to address their priorities. Ogwumike, the WNBPA president, told reporters at the time that they were celebrating amazing growth, but “it’s not lost on us that we’re living the growth as we’re negotiating our worth.”
“The fans know what we’re worth. Now we need the league to know what we are worth.”
Many of the players warmed up for the WNBA all-star game in shirts that read “Pay us what you owe us.”
From the launches of the PWHL and the NSL, to the smashing success of the WNBA in recent years, women’s sports have become big business.
