Napheesa Collier, a player in the WNBA for the Minnesota Lynx, made her voice heard in early October. Collier feels that there have been multiple issues dealing with poor officiating, and the overall platform of the WNBA. Collier also calls out that young players should be “on their knees” in gratitude for what the WNBA has given to them and presented them as. Along with that, Napheesa disses the league commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, of being negligent.  

Engelbert responded to Collier by denying allegations and said she was “disheartened” by Engelbert’s characterization and inaccuracy. They then discussed having a meeting to go over the issues. But the meeting was called off by Collier, causing them and their relationship to be fractured.  

Ironically, players like Caitlin Clark and A’ja Wilson publicly expressed their support for Collier. Which is ironic because Collier called out players like Caitlin Clark saying that they should be grateful, for what the league has given them.  

I asked the Girls Basketball Coach here at CMW if she had heard anything about this topic and she said Yes, because she watched the WNBA finals and it was all over the WNBA. I also asked her how she felt about the topic, and she said that Collier should not have been taken out of the game during playoffs and it was a “disgrace.” Coach Mary believes that the Lynx would have made it farther in the playoffs if Collier wasn’t out for an injury. She believes that the commissioner has not done a good job addressing issues like these during the season and rather addresses them post-season, which is not healthy for the program. The last question I asked Coach Mary was how this event will affect the future of the WNBA. Coach Mary feels that the commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, will get fired if she doesn’t start listening to the players. She also thinks that the WNBA should make committees that are player-run so that they can have player representation on the officiating committee.  

This is a heated topic in the WNBA, and the future of the program is at risk. Keep following this issue to see what lies ahead.