During a public conversation with former Vice President Kamala Harris, Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier revealed how she reached a breaking point with the WNBA’s leadership. Collier, also a vice president of the WNBA Players Association, spoke frankly about long-standing frustrations with coaches, players, and Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
“Players, over and over again, we weren’t seeing a change that our leadership was trying to make. And I think I just got to the point where I was fed up,” Collier told Harris. She described repeated efforts behind closed doors, meetings, and conversations that produced little action.
Collier said she canceled a planned meeting with Commissioner Engelbert after the latter denied making remarks Collier attributed to her—statements about Caitlin Clark needing to be “grateful” for her platform, and the idea that players “should be on their knees” thanking for media deals. Collier cited a “lack of accountability” as her reason.
For a figure like Harris—long associated with justice and accountability—the bluntness of Collier’s remarks underscored how deep the divide has grown between players and league leadership. The WNBA now faces a reckoning: whether Commissioner Engelbert and the league can restore trust before major decisions like the collective bargaining agreement are settled.
Napheesa Collier’s Call for Accountability Exposes WNBA Fault Lines
In the same Harris event, Napheesa Collier offered a deeper look at what drove her to go public:
“For so long, I felt like I saw what was going on behind closed doors,” she said. “For so long, we tried to have these conversations and move the needle in those meetings that we would have with the league, within our leadership. I saw that nothing was changing. Coaches, winning and losing alike, were complaining about the same things, over and over again.”
That admission pulls back the curtain on internal tensions. Collier claims repeated conversations with executives and leadership produced no meaningful reforms. Coaches across the league, regardless of their records, have echoed player frustration—calling out inconsistent officiating, weak accountability systems, and a lack of respect for player advocacy.
Collier’s role in the Players Association puts her at the center of upcoming collective bargaining. With the current agreement expiring October 31, the pressure is on. Her cancellation of the meeting with Engelbert—citing denial of remarks she says she heard—highlighted the breakdown in trust.
At its heart, this moment in the WNBA has spilled over from just a spat between one player and one commissioner to a potential crisis. Kamala Harris’s involvement may amplify the spotlight, but Collier’s words are the spark. The real test now: who listens—and who acts.
For more basketball content, click on Hardwood Heroics. Sabel Reyes can be reached through sabelreyes22@gmail.com. Other websites under the Sports Heroics umbrella are Gridiron Heroics and Wisconsin Heroics.
Sabel has been working as a field reporter for People’s Television Network (PTV), mainly about the Philippine Basketball Association since 2016 and has been elevated to Executive Producer for sports in 2022. Aside from being on top of the Philippine sports scene, she is also a running enthusiast. You can also follow her on X at @SabelReyes2 and Instagram at @msabelreyes.
