Lynx's Napheesa Collier blasts WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert: 'We have the worst leadership in the world'

[Mosby]

The Minnesota Lynx spent the entire 2025 WNBA regular season as the league's most dominant team, but suffered a shocking semifinals loss to the Phoenix Mercury to end their bid for another championship earlier than expected.

That series ended with star forward Napheesa Collier injured and in a walking boot after suffering an ankle injury late in Game 4 on a controversial no-call that sent Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve into a tirade on the sidelines. On Tuesday, Collier met with the media for her post-season exit interview and opened with a lengthy, four-minute statement in which she went scorched earth on WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert over a number of issues from CBA negotiations to officiating problems.

In the statement, which you can read in full below, Coller said the WNBA has "the worst leadership in the world." She also brought out receipts from a conversation she had with Engelbert in February, in which the commissioner told her that Caitlin Clark "should be grateful" to the WNBA for her endorsement deals and that players should be "on their knees" thanking her for the new media rights deal.

CBS Sports

[questionseverything]

1. Engelbert needs to go , that's been obvious for awhile

Fans want clean games with skills dominating not dirty players fighting like alley cats

[RandySF]

2. Phee is an incredible person.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. That Was Not A Foul

It's a real shame she got hurt, but that was incidental contact that she initiated.
I've seen it in slo-mo from different angles. There was no foul.

[EnergizedLib]

4. Assuming she's being truthful (and I have no reason to doubt her)

What in the absolute world is Cathy Engelbert talking about?

Here's Cailtin Clark, already well established as one of the biggest names in the sport in a State Farm commercial before she was even drafted:

Here's Caitlin in a Gatorade commercial in 2023 while still at Iowa. She was drafted in 2024:

Two Caitlin Clarks. March 2024. She was drafted in April 2024.

Here's a State Farm commercial with JuJu Watkins, who has yet to be drafted:

Cailtin brought eyeballs to the league that otherwise wouldn't have been there. The league didn't bring eyeballs to Cailtin. Who is Cathy Engelbert trying to fool?

Caitlin. Angel. Paige. JuJu. All are/were stars before ever being drafted.

Oh, and before MLB unveiled instant replay and challenges, did Bud Selig ever say only losers complain about umping?