{"id":497373,"date":"2026-03-01T11:11:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T11:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/497373\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T11:11:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T11:11:15","slug":"the-wnba-is-at-a-breaking-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/497373\/","title":{"rendered":"The WNBA Is at a Breaking Point"},"content":{"rendered":"

Napheesa Collier went scorched earth on Cathy Engelbert for a reason. The players are fed up\u2014and the firestorm is here. <\/p>\n

At first glance, Napheesa Collier seems like an atypical candidate to deliver what\u2019s looking like the boldest power play the WNBA has ever seen.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s never requested a trade or played shadow GM. She\u2019s spent her entire career with one franchise, the Minnesota Lynx, and she is not loud or domineering\u2014neither in demeanor nor in play style.<\/p>\n

But she has always understood the power of a well-timed cut\u2014one perfectly orchestrated move can have devastating ripple effects, and finding the right time to strike comes from years of patience and practice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So when Collier publicly rebuked WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert\u2019s leadership on Tuesday with a directness rarely seen in American professional sports, she did it her own way, pointing out the common pattern in every problem that faces the league, from refereeing to CBA negotiations to ratings: \u201clack of accountability from the league office.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the best players in the world,\u201d said Collier. \u201cWe have the best fans in the world, but right now, we have the worst leadership in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Napheesa Collier\u2019s full statement today, where she challenged Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and the WNBA with directness and stunning detail we rarely hear from active players. Worth listening to every word. pic.twitter.com\/IRTvTc52EA<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) September 30, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

It was all underscored by the unprecedented leverage that Collier wields, as the cofounder of Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 winter league that has seized on opportunities\u2014from better referees and player development to marketing and fan engagement\u2014that the WNBA has been too slow and unimaginative to capitalize on. While the threat of a WNBA lockout looms this offseason, Unrivaled will employ 48 of its players, or about a third of the league.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unprecedented for a star player, let alone a union rep, to be a founder of another league. But these are heady, unparalleled times in the WNBA. Attendance, ratings, and franchise valuations are skyrocketing in the W, and the current CBA expires in less than 30 days. The players, thanks to outside income, sponsorships, and NIL money, have a new level of bargaining power. After Caitlin Clark, Collier may be the single most influential player in a league that is increasingly driven by star power. The clock has been running out at the negotiation table, and it seems like Engelbert never once bothered to look up at who exactly she was dealing with. On Tuesday, Phee gave her the wake-up call of the century.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have finally grown tired,\u201d Collier said. \u201cFor too long, I have tried to have these conversations in private, but it’s clear there is no intention of accepting there’s a problem. The league has made it clear it isn’t about innovation; it isn’t about collaboration. It’s about control and power.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Sports Business Journal\u2019s Tom Friend<\/a>, multiple sources believe that Engelbert\u2019s tenure will likely end after the conclusion of CBA negotiations; that intel was delivered before Collier\u2019s statement. The main critique levied against Engelbert\u2014that she is unable to build trust and relationships with players\u2014is even more serious in an era that will be more defined by player power than ever. If the players\u2019 lack of trust in Engelbert extends an already arduous negotiation process, her tenure could end even before CBA negotiations are over.<\/p>\n

Collier\u2019s season ended unceremoniously, after she lost the ball in Game 3 of the conference semifinals when the Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas stole the ball but slammed into Collier’s leg in the process. She would later be diagnosed with a season-ending Grade 2 tear in her left ankle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When she saw her star player down on the floor after the collision with Thomas, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve rushed the court and went on a profanity-laced tirade against the referees, whom she believed had missed a blatant call. It was a historic on-court crash-out that culminated in an impassioned postgame monologue in which Reeve accused the league of allowing physicality, fighting, and injuries and called for \u201ca change in leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was a devastating injury and a pivotal moment in the WNBA\u2019s season. The league is not transparent about how it holds refs accountable, but the aftermath of Collier’s injury offered an indication of the league’s approach.<\/p>\n

Reeve was fined $15,000 for her comments and conduct\u2014likely the largest<\/a> fine in league history, according to the AP\u2014and suspended one game. Aces coach Becky Hammon and Fever coach Stephanie White, who backed her through comments in the media, were reportedly<\/a> also fined. So were two Lynx assistant coaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The NBA\u2019s official referee account on X, which rarely comments on WNBA plays, emphatically stated that the play was not a foul:<\/p>\n

This is NOT a foul. Thomas legally gets to the ball and knocks the ball loose prior to any contact. The leg to leg contact is incidental once the ball is clearly loose. This was correctly judged in real time as a no call as were the subsequent technical fouls. pic.twitter.com\/kdImDRwsNe<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NBA Referees (@OfficialNBARefs) September 27, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

The official account’s verdict didn’t seem as noteworthy as the fact that it felt the need to make a call at all, which came off as downright defensive.<\/p>\n

Any number of factors could have driven Collier to go scorched earth on Engelbert. But it seems clear that the straw that broke the camel\u2019s back wasn\u2019t reffing or the ongoing CBA negotiations. It was Engelbert\u2019s failure as a leader, neglecting to reach out to Collier in the wake of her season-ending injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNot one call, not one text. The only outreach has come from her no. 2, telling my agent that she doesn’t believe physical play is contributing to injuries. That is infuriating, and it’s the perfect example of the tone-deaf, dismissive approach that our leaders always seem to take,\u201d Collier said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the outcry surrounding Collier\u2019s injury, WNBA sources told ESPN<\/a> that their internal data \u201cdoes not show any correlation between the rash of recent playoff injuries and missed calls by officials.\u201d This hearkens back to Engelbert\u2019s press conference at All-Star Weekend<\/a>, when she told reporters that \u201cour data would show there’s no significant increase in injuries through the same number of games as last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

But research compiled<\/a> by Dr. Lucas Seehafer, a kinesiology professor and reporter for The Next whose dissertation focused on injuries in the WNBA, shows that the number of injuries increased after the schedule expanded from 40 games in 2023 to 44 this season. Despite the rise in injuries, roster spots have not been added to go with the increase in games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This season, many of the WNBA\u2019s injuries have been suffered by high-profile players, including Clark, Collier, and Breanna Stewart. The most obvious common denominator between the Las Vegas Aces and the Phoenix Mercury, the last two teams standing in the title race? Health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHearing over and over and over again, \u2018We have the best refs in the world. We don’t have a problem. None of the injuries are due to physicality in the way that we’re reffing.\u2019 It’s an insult to my intelligence,\u201d Collier said. \u201cHonestly, I’ve played this game for my entire life, and you think that I don’t know what it looks like when it’s played the way it’s supposed to be played?\u201d<\/p>\n

Collier shared details of conversations she has had with Engelbert to argue that the current administration has regularly treated players with disrespect, beyond the refereeing issue.<\/p>\n

“I asked how she planned to fix the fact that players like Caitlin, Angel [Reese] and Paige [Bueckers], who are clearly driving massive revenue for the league, are making so little for their first four years,\u201d Collier said. \u201cHer response was, ‘Caitlin should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court because without the platform that the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything.\u2019 And in that same conversation, she told me, ‘Players should be on their knees thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal that I got them.’ That’s the mentality driving our league from the top.”<\/p>\n

In a response<\/a>, Engelbert said she was dismayed by Collier\u2019s characterization of their conversations but did not issue an outright denial. The comments, if true, indicate that the commissioner is unaware of the new league terrain she is operating in.<\/p>\n

Suggesting that a player should be grateful for the WNBA\u2019s platform hearkens back to a time when players might have been scared to demand more because the W\u2019s future was not guaranteed.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the irony of telling Collier, who helped negotiate an arguably more competitive<\/a> media rights deal for Unrivaled<\/a> than what the WNBA was able to negotiate for itself<\/a>, that she should be thanking Engelbert.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The language, which echoes old-school tactics to suppress the salaries of women\u2014when employers would demand their gratitude, citing the scarcity of roles, and position employees\u2019 demands as an overreach\u2014seems designed to engender self-doubt. Meanwhile, the league also wants to use its players as examples of empowerment. You couldn\u2019t script a more on-the-nose parable about the limits of #GirlBoss feminism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps Engelbert was so busy undermining the players that she started to believe her own narrative. The truth is, Engelbert\u2019s position and her past make her an easy target. But she’s also just a pawn on the greater chessboard. Engelbert has to answer to Adam Silver and the NBA. The WNBA has never been in control of its own destiny; the NBA owns over 60 percent of the league. All major decisions have to be approved by the board of governors, made up of the owners of all 30 NBA teams as well as the 13 WNBA owners. Silver and the NBA continue to escape judgment even though they have a large hand in the W’s operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When you keep that in mind, it makes a lot more sense that the league seems more concerned with the sale of the Connecticut Sun at a discount to an owner with NBA ties<\/a>\u2014even at the risk of antitrust exposure\u2014than it seems to be with the health and safety of its players.<\/p>\n

There is potentially a silver lining to so many expansion franchises being awarded to NBA ownership groups<\/a>, though: With more NBA owners having a real stake in the WNBA, the league could shift from being considered an appendage to an entity worthy of investment and care.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Up until now, Engelbert has served as the lead puppet of a league that launders its resources back into the pockets of the people who are already the richest. She\u2019ll dole out awards and play the role of the benevolent liaison, but she\u2019ll apparently never fight for the WNBA to have any genuine autonomy, because her job is to protect the power of the owners. With players turning on Engelbert more publicly than ever, the question is how long the WNBA and NBA will continue to back her. In a league increasingly driven by star power and the looming existential threat of Unrivaled, the less the players see her as a benevolent liaison, the less utility she’ll have.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If there is a version of the WNBA that can fulfill its potential while operating as an NBA subsidiary, it will require a commissioner who can skillfully communicate with players and integrate their vision for the future of the league. As player power rises and the threat of Unrivaled looms, collaboration between the players, owners, and commissioner is the way to survive and thrive. The WNBA has the resources to realize its potential. Collier, who has already helped build one league, has the vision. Maybe it\u2019s time to hand her the playbook.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Seerat Sohi<\/p>\n

<\/a>Seerat Sohi covers the NBA, WNBA, and women\u2019s college basketball for The Ringer. Her former stomping grounds include Yahoo Sports, SB Nation, and basements all over Edmonton.