Napheesa Collier pulls no punches, puts WNBA leadership on blast as she highlights gulf between sides on CBA

LAS VEGAS — There is no more greenery in the WNBA landscape.

Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier went scorched earth in her exit interview on Tuesday, as clear a sign as any that there is considerable distance between the players and the league one month out from the deadline for a collective bargaining agreement.

Collier uprooted everything in her path, taking aim at the league office as “tone-deaf,” “dismissive," willing to sabotage its own product and being more about “control and power” than innovation or collaboration. Few athletes in the history of any sport have taken such a direct approach to calling out a perceived failure in leadership as Collier did on Tuesday.

"We have the best players in the world,” Collier said in a four-minute statement before taking questions with local reporters in Minneapolis. “We have the best fans in the world. But right now we have the worst leadership in the world."

The crux of her comments concerned officiating, and by extension, the health of players in a league willing — or even thrilled — to praise its physicality. As she called out WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert directly, Collier's remarks were a torch to the growth the league is experiencing.

Collier, the MVP runner-up, delivered them while the Las Vegas Aces finished up shootaround for Game 5 of their semifinal series against the Indiana Fever. Indiana players rewatched or read snippets before taking the court. Though Collier made clear the statements are hers alone, the outpouring of support and agreement from her fellow players was emphatic and swift.

“When it comes down to it, I think I agree with everything she said,” Lexie Hull, one of the Fever’s WNBA Player Association (WNBPA) team reps, said. “We're at a really important time in the league, and changes need to be made. And so you're seeing [Collier] talk about that, and really proud of her for making that statement today.”

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That such a direct statement comes from Collier is notable, even given her season-ending injury in Game 3 of the Lynx semifinals series against the Mercury — the game that blew the brewing irritation wide open. She is a vice president on the WNBPA executive committee, in her seventh WNBA season, and Lynx coaches have praised her steps into a vocal and prominent leadership role within their team as well as the league collectively.

Collier is also approaching the issues as a co-founder of Unrivaled, the offseason 3x3 league she started with her husband, Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell, and Liberty forward Breanna Stewart. That league has expanded its footprint for its second season and receives praise from players for its support of them on and off the court.

“She understands the business side of it as well as the basketball side of it,” Fever head coach and former player Stephanie White said before shootaround. “And I'm thankful that we have strong women that are willing to say the things that matter and say the things that will move the needle for change.”

Lynx assistant head coach Rebekkah Brunson, a former Lynx player, told Yahoo Sports in July that Collier’s legacy will be larger than being a great basketball player because of what she’s done with Unrivaled and as a WNBPA vice president working on the CBA.

“[She’s] making sure that she leaves this league in a better place, understanding that this league is not built by her,” Brunson said. “It's not solely for her, but she is in a very, very special place where she can help the next generation of athletes get what they deserve.”

Of all the damning remarks Collier unleashed, the one that will garner the most attention was made about the youngest generation of players — Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers among them — which has precipitated most of the growth.

Collier claimed that when she asked commissioner Cathy Engelbert how the league would fix the low rookie salaries, Engelbert replied that Caitlin Clark should “be grateful she makes $16 million off the court, because without the platform that the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything.”

A Fever representative said Clark will not be making a statement. Engelbert did, however, saying she was "disheartened by how Napheesa characterized our conversations and league leadership, but even when our perspectives differ, my commitment to the players and to this work will not waver." 

Remedying the low salaries and revenue sharing structure are the top issues players are pursuing in CBA negotiations. Talks remain stagnant ahead of the Oct. 31 deadline, Hull and Aces union representative Chelsea Gray said on Tuesday. Gray and Hull each said the sides have not come to an agreement on anything.

“Our league is at a spot that it hasn't been in the past 10 years,” Hull said. “We're growing exponentially, and we need change to mirror that. And I think where the players see the league going is different than where leadership sees the league going, and somehow we need to see that along. And I think the CBA negotiations will help hopefully get us there.”

Collier and the support from players on Tuesday solidified the gulf between the two sides in those negotiations. It's difficult to see any promising developments sprouting in the next month to keep the league from a work stoppage.