Recently, Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier generated headlines by putting commissioner Cathy Engelbert on blast for her supposed poor leadership and lack of vision for the league moving forward. Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark, whom Collier referenced in her rant, has also since agreed with Collier's sentiments, and at this point, all of the pressure in the world is on Engelbert to resign.
On Thursday, Clark got more in depth about how her childhood dream of playing in the WNBA impacts the way she sees the league moving on from this turbulence.
“I grew up as a huge fan of this league and I'm going to do everything I can to make this league that a 5 year old, a 10 year old, a 15 year old, a girl in college is really proud of to come into and to be able to put a WNBA uniform on. That's what they dream of,” said Clark, per Madeline Kenney of the New York Post on X, formerly Twitter. “”I'm hoping they can accomplish that goal because that's exactly who I was and that's really at the end of day, I hope that's what my legacy can be… how I impacted people to be able to maybe want to be in the wNBA but to really just achieve whatever they want.”
A potential turning point for the WNBA
The WNBA has long been criticized for its lack of vision and clear confusion on how to handle the infusion of star power it got when Clark entered the league two years ago.
Engelbert has been at the center of that controversy, and according to Collier, she went so far as to demean Clark and other players, taking credit for their success instead of thanking them for their clear contributions to the league's recent uptick in popularity.
Conversations about this subject are likely to grow even louder at the conclusion of the 2025 WNBA Finals, which are set to begin on Friday evening between the Las Vegas Aces and Phoenix Mercury.
