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During its availability of seasonal end of the season on Tuesday, Minnesota striker Lynx Napheesa Collier expressed his complaints with the WNBA leadership.
Collier criticized the commissioner of the Cathy Engelbert League, suggesting that he had been “negligent” in his administration. “We have the best players in the world. We have the best fans in the world, but at this time we have the worst leadership in the world,” Collier said in a prepared statement.
The commentator Stephen A. Smith supported Collier and urged Engelbert to give up his leadership role. “I want to know how demons someone said something like this as commissioner,” Smith said in the latest edition of ESPN’s “first shot.”
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The WNBA commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, speaks at a press conference before game 1 of the WNBA of the basketball between Connecticut Sun and Washington Mystics, in Washington, DC, on September 29, 2019. (Photo AP/Patrick Semansky)
“Whether David Stern or Adam Silver or Roger Goodell or Paul Tagliabue, can you imagine? Do you imagine that a commissioner is called directly, and that shy and warm statement. She looks guilty as hell. And then I’m looking, I’m saying, he really said that? … I’m listening, because she became very, very specific.”
Naphesa Collier de Lynx against WNBA leadership, demands official changes
Smith also suggested that Engelbert had positioned himself in such a way that he could not negotiate in good faith in the future. The imminent low season will probably be defined by the result of the negotiations of the collective bargaining agreement between the League and the Association of Players.
“And for the commissioner to return with that, you cannot have it at the negotiating table talking to the players, Basically Collier said that he is on the way to our growth and our development as a league, not only on the player’s side, but on the side of the League. She is not good for basketball. No one questioned the business of Cathy Engelbert, because now he knows the business … at the end of the day.
Stephen A. Smith observes before a game between Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics on November 19, 2021 in TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE through Getty Images)
Collier, the vice president of the WNBPA, rebuked Engelbert on several fronts. He expressed frustration for the WNBA trade, citing the injury he suffered in the Lynx semifinal series against Phoenix Mercury. The referees did not whistle the Mercury striker Alyssa Thomas for a foul after she contacted Collier. The non -spoil caused a strong reaction from Lynx chief coach, Cheryl Reeve.
After a confrontation on the court with the officials, Reeve was expelled. It was later fined by the WNBA for criticizing the referees and accusing the leadership of committing “negligence” for allowing officials to call the playoff game.
Minnesota Lynx chief coach, Cheryl Reeve, observes in the third quarter of her game against Las Vegas Aces in Michelob Ultra Arena on August 2, 2025. (Candice Ward/ Imagn images)
“If this is what the League wants, it is fine, but I want to ask for a leadership change at the League level when it comes to officiating,” Reeve said after Lynx’s loss of 84-76 last Friday. “The officiating crew we had tonight, so that leadership considers those three dignified semifinal people, it is a negligence.”
Engelbert has been commissioned since 2019.
On Tuesday, the WNBA announced that it reached an 11 -year media rights agreement with the USA Network. The agreement gives the cable network the transmission rights to at least 50 games per season from 2026. The United States will also wear select playoff games and the WNBA finals.
The WNBA and the NBA previously announced an 11 -year agreement with NBCuniversal, Walt Disney Co. and Amazon.
“The association with Versant and uses Network marks another significant milestone for the continuous growth of the WNBA,” said Engelbert partly in a statement. Earlier this year, NBC Universal announced plans to turn USA Network and other cable assets in a new company, which is expected to be called Versant.
