NEWNow you can listen to Pak Gazette articles!
Former Vice President Kamala Harris hosted WNBA star Napheesa Collier at the activist summit, “A Day of Unreasonable Conversation,” this week, where the player recently spoke out alleging an explosive conversation with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
Collier recently alleged that Engelbert said in a private conversation: “[Caitlin Clark] she should be grateful that she makes $16 million off the court because without the platform the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything,” and that “the players should be on their knees, thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal I got them.”
In her conversation with Harris, Collier defended her decision to make the statements publicly, as the WNBA players’ union is currently negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with the league.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PakGazette.Com
“Regardless of the consequences, I felt like it was something that needed to be done,” Collier said.
“I’m in the union for our collective bargaining negotiations, as well as our collective bargaining for our league, and for a long time I felt like I saw what was happening behind closed doors,” he added. “For a long time, we tried to have these conversations and move the needle in those meetings that we would have with the league within our leadership. And I saw that nothing was changing. The coaches, winning and losing alike, were complaining about the same things over and over, the players over and over, and we weren’t seeing the change that our leadership was trying to make.
“I think I got to the point where I was fed up… Whether it was getting trashed for this or people supporting me, I felt like what I was doing was right. I felt like it needed to be said, so no matter the consequences, I felt like it was something that needed to be done.
LYNX’S NAPHEESA COLLIER CONFRONTS WNBA LEADERSHIP AND CALLS FOR OFFERING CHANGES
Team Collier forward Napheesa Collier (24) watches before the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on July 19, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Trevor Ruszkowski/Image Images)
Engelbert said at a news conference last week who did not comment on Clark.
“Obviously, I didn’t make those comments. Caitlin has been a transformative player in this league. She’s been a great representative of the game. She’s brought tens of millions of new fans to the game,” Engelbert said.
Engelbert addressed the alleged comments about the other players, claiming that many “inaccuracies” have been reported in the media, but did not explicitly deny making those comments as he did with Clark’s alleged comments.
Caitlin Clark poses with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected as the number one overall pick by the Indiana Fever in the 2024 WNBA Draft at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, New York, on April 15, 2024. (Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports)
“There’s a lot of inaccuracy on social media and in all of these reports,” Engelbert said. “A lot of reporting, a lot of inaccuracy about what I say and what I didn’t say.”
Engelbert later said: “I’m heartbroken. I’m a human being too. I have a family. I have two children who are devastated by these comments. So all I’m saying is it’s obviously been a difficult week, and I think there’s a lot of inaccuracy out there.”
Still, Engelbert acknowledged that if the players don’t feel “appreciated,” then she has to do better.
“I was disheartened to hear that some players feel the league and that I personally don’t care about them or listen to them,” Engelbert said before Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Friday night.
“If the ‘W’ players don’t feel appreciated and valued in the league, we have to do better and I have to do better.”
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert speaks during a news conference before the WNBA All-Star basketball game, Saturday, July 19, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
The players association and the WNBA agreed to an eight-year deal in 2020, but the WNBPA voted last year to end the deal early. The current agreement expires on October 31.
