In a move of unprecedented magnitude in North American professional sports, UConn alumna and Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier has directly called out league officials for a lack of accountability in officiating, salaries and the fraying of the athlete-owner relationship over the years.
To put this in perspective, the most recent sports incidents of a similar scale could be the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal in 2017 or Tom Brady’s “Deflategate.” However, both are quite different from this case. “Deflategate” was a legal issue kept away from the public, and the Astros’ cheating scheme only emerged at least a year after that World Series, when it was examined in retrospect.
NBA players have criticized referees before, often met with fines that do not cut into their large salaries. The closest event was when Raptors Coach Darko Rajakovic cut into league officiating after their loss vs. the Lakers on Jan. 9th, 2024 — but that was a coach, not a player. What Collier just did is the definition of unprecedented.
A storm has been brewing around the league for a couple of years now, surrounding conversations about officiating and refereeing. As a persistent issue, in both the men’s and women’s leagues, refereeing has always been a point of contention.
Most notably, the 2024 WNBA finals ended in a controversial call that had resulted in the Liberty winning the game over the Lynx. It is worth noting that WNBA Commissioner Cathy Englebert was dressed in New York-themed attire, much to the disdain of WNBA fans online. It reached a boiling point during the conference semifinals, in which the Lynx fell to the Phoenix Mercury.
As the vice president of the players’ association and the MVP runner-up, Collier took on the public face in her exit press conference — referring to the leadership as “the worst in the world” and demanding accountability, not just in the way the game is officiated but in other aspects of the league.
A key issue in the league has been compensation, with many claiming that the WNBA does not turn a profit. However, companies can operate at a loss and still pay their players.
WNBA players are not asking to be paid as much as NBA players because the league’s revenue is not comparable. While the exact revenue isn’t known, Statistica estimates it to be $200 million in 2024, compared to the NBA’s revenue of $11 billion in the 2023-2024 season.
NBA players’ earnings accounted for roughly 50% of the $11 billion revenue, while WNBA players’ share was approximately 9.3%, indicating a bigger proportional gap. WNBA players are advocating for a higher percentage of league revenue—and, even if the league is losing money, they believe their salaries should be increased.
Englebert hasn’t been new to this sort of controversy. As the league has gotten more popular, she has found herself at the center of it a lot more often. Besides her outfit at the 2024 WNBA finals, she also mispronounced the name of the Golden State Valkyries’ head coach, Natalie Nakase, when presenting her with the Coach of the Year award in September.
Englebert, when asked about the conversation concerning Angel Reese and Catlin Clark—two of the league’s rising stars—in a September 2024 CNBC interview, compared it to the historic Bird-Magic rivalry in the brother league.
In her initial statement, she failed to condemn the at times racist and sexist comments directed at both players by fans, similar to what had occurred during the Sun vs. Fever game at TD Garden on July 15, when someone in a Clark shirt was ejected for remarks made at Sun player Saniya Rivers.
In a more local sense, the league as a whole has been trying to force a sale of the Connecticut Sun – much to the disdain of residents, basketball fans and people who have seen the Hartford Whalers relocate to North Carolina. The situation has reached a stalemate recently, with multiple state officials weighing in.
Safe to say, she’s not popular, as multiple fans and media pundits have been calling for her resignation.
Collier’s criticism of the WNBA leadership is further complicated by her role as a co-founder of Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 women’s basketball league. Unrivaled was created to serve as a high-paying domestic league—a player-owned option for the offseason, which typically has WNBA players going overseas to earn money.
The conflict-of-interest accusation comes from some WNBA executives. They suggest that her public criticism of the WNBA as a business is an attempt to incite a blackout – but fellow players, including New York Liberty guard Natasha Cloud, push back on the idea, stating that the problem is with the CBA and the league’s apparent refusal to compensate their players.
As the WNBA finals wrap up, this situation, along with the looming CBA deadline, is on the minds of both fans and players, even as the NBA starts up. Collier stood her ground, refusing to meet with Engelbert following her public press conference, claiming that much of what she discussed was not true.
The league is often seen as a financial weakness to the NBA because it does not turn a profit. Internet users often act as business experts, dismissively answering questions of why WNBA players aren’t paid what they deserve. The truth is, a sports league fundamentally depends on its players. If league leaders are so out of touch that they believe “every player” should be grateful to the commissioner for the chance to compete nationally. The league won’t defend those players when fans criticize or get angry.
It’s more than a PR skirmish. Collier is a trailblazer for openly condemning the league’s leadership, creating a blueprint for athletes who feel undervalued and unheard. Something like this has the potential to significantly impact the entire landscape of player-union and commissioner relationships in the North American sports sphere.