Tensions between the WNBA and its players have reached an all-time high in the past weeks. All season, the expiration of the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement and the negotiations that would ensue between the league and the players’ union afterward.
Issues like increased player salaries and more accountability for poor officiating have been some of the principal issues. Players have spoken up all season, including at the All-Star game, about improving players’ pay, and none have done so as directly as Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx.
Collier tore the league apart with a statement during her end-of-season exit interview that called out these issues and WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert by name, describing a conversation they had where the commissioner dismissed concerns about refereeing and said that players should “be begging on their knees thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal I got them.”
Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier (24) drives to the basket against the Golden State Valkyries in the first half during game one of round one for the 2025 WNBA Playoffs at Target Center. / Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images
“That’s the mentality driving our league from the top,” Collier said. “We go to battle every day to protect a shield that doesn’t value us. The league believes it succeeds despite its players, not because of them.”
Engelbert later responded to the Collier with a formal statement, then denied some of Collier’s claims at a press conference ahead of the WNBA Finals. Following those comments, Collier cancelled a meeting she had scheduled with Engelbert to discuss some of the league’s issues.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert talks during a presser before the start of game one of the 2025 WNBA Finals between the Phoenix Mercury and the Las Vegas Aces at Michelob Ultra Arena. / Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
Players and media figures across basketball have weighed in on this back-and-forth between the executive leader of the WNBA and one of its best players, who is also a leading member of the WNBPA.
On retired WNBA great Sue Bird’s podcast, Birds’ Eye View, All-Star Seattle Storm forward and president of the WNBPA Nneka Ogwumike weighed in on Collier’s comments and was firmly in support of her fellow player.
“I think what Napheesa did was an exceptional display of that leadership. Of speaking truth to power in a way that she can be heard,” Ogwumike said. “We’ve had players do it in the past… and today this is where we’re at and this is not where we want to stay. I think that’s exactly why she’s a member of our executive committee. I agreed with what Napheesa said.”
A lot is riding on this CBA 👀@nnekaogwumike calls @PHEEsespieces‘s statement monumental 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/fDvilqrADh
— Bird’s Eye View (@BEVpod_) October 10, 2025
Collier’s use of her platform to display her message in such a public medium has put both immediate pressure and immediate attention on the league’s labor negotiations, and in her statement, she echoed sentiments that the WNBPA had been advocating for a long time. Collier said that she felt compelled to make her statement because she didn’t see anything changing after meetings behind closed doors.
“I think she really spoke a lot of the sentiments the players had been expressing,” Ogwumike said. “Many of which were conversations that have been had, not publicly, with leadership. But, she took it upon herself to use her platform in a way that’s monumental and is going to contribute to the transformational change that we’re going to see.”