Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier and WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert do not appear to be mending fences anytime soon. One day after Engelbert said that she planned to sit down with Collier, the forward has reportedly canceled her meeting with the commissioner, per Kendra Andrews and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.
Tensions between Engelbert and the players have been simmering all season amid ongoing CBA negotiations. But things hit a boiling point last week when Collier used her end-of-season press conference to read a scathing statement about the WNBA front office.
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In a press conference on Friday, Engelbert said that she was “disheartened” to hear Collier’s comments, but vowed to “do better.” She also said that she had spoken with Collier via text message, and that she planned to meet with her next week after the start of the WNBA Finals. At the time, Engelbert admitted that she and Collier had not made any set plans.
Per ESPN, Engelbert’s press conference “pretty much pushed the relationship beyond repair.”
Collier did not pull punches in her statement, accusing the league front office and the commissioner of not caring about the league’s players. Collier outlined multiple private conversations with Engelbert, saying that the commissioner had told her that “players should be on their knees thanking their lucky stars” for the current media rights deal, and that Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark should be “grateful” for the WNBA’s platform.
As a league veteran, Collier’s words already have plenty of sway. But the 29-year-old is also a co-founder of the revolutionary 3-on-3 league Unrivaled, a league with a number of WNBA players which has been at odds with the WNBA in its own right since the inaugural season last year.
“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. If I didn’t know exactly what the job entailed, maybe I wouldn’t feel this way. But unfortunately for them, I do,” Collier said.
Engelbert’s response was largely to debunk some (though not all) of Collier’s specifics. For one, she said that she “obviously” did not make the comment about Clark. But she also spoke personally about the backlash.
“I’m a human too, I have a family, I have two kids who are devastated by these comments,” Engelbert said. “It’s obviously been a tough week.”
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Collier suffered a major ankle injury during Game 3 of the semifinals against the Phoenix Mercury, later being diagnosed with a torn ligament and torn muscle. In her statement last week, Collier also addressed inconsistent officiating — a sticking point for players throughout the season — in addition to her frustrations with the WNBA front office.
Minnesota went on to lose to the Mercury in Game 4, leading Phoenix to return to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2021.