Napheesa Collier earned yet another career honor as one of the five women's basketball players chosen among the 2025 Glamour Women of the Year, and she used the opportunity to voice her thoughts on the chaos surrounding the WNBA CBA (collective bargaining agreement) negotiations.
In her interview with Glamour, which took place before Collier's scathing viral speech that called out the WNBA's leadership in late September, the Minnesota Lynx star didn't hold back when discussing the league's existing CBA.
“We are being so grossly, almost, taken advantage of, and it should be illegal,” Collier declared. “The amount of money that Caitlin Clark has made the league is insane, and she's getting 0% of it because we have no [revenue] share. She gets less than $80,000 a year, and she's bringing in, like, hundreds of millions of dollars. It's insane.”
Jonquel Jones thought she was going to be the first woman in the NBA, that is until she saw the @WNBA on her TV as a little girl. In this episode of “Girlhood Firsts,” our WNBA #GlamourWOTY honorees talk about their first time feeling represented in the media, first beauty… pic.twitter.com/Uu7GMjknIE
— Glamour (@glamourmag) October 29, 2025
Despite the overwhelmingly loud support the W's players have received, from politicians to fellow athletes, some have been just as vocal in criticizing their efforts. Even a WNBA legend was among the dissenting voices when Candace Parker called out the 2025 All-Stars for not “maximizing the moment” by playing hard in the All-Star Game and showing off everything they're capable of.
Collier also had a direct clapback to that line of criticism, pointing out how many players had been suffering injuries due to the intensity of the season's schedule. “We could not go hard in that game because you're adding another game to our already packed season, where people are dropping [like] flies,” she explained.
As the October 31 CBA negotiation deadline approached, a representative from the league told Glamour that, despite the very public fallout, they're on the players' side with some of the issues being discussed.
“As the WNBA has stated repeatedly, we agree with the players that they deserve to be paid more and, importantly, to participate in the success and growth of the league by sharing in revenue,” the W's spokesperson said.
“The comprehensive proposal we provided to the Players Association includes both significant guaranteed salary cap increases and substantial uncapped revenue sharing that enables player salaries to grow as the league's business grows,” the statement concluded.
However, WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson maintains that more talks are still needed for both sides to be fully on the same page.
“Our player leadership remains focused on meaningful progress. Whether a deal is reached by the deadline remains to be seen, but we're prepared to keep doing the work until it is right,” Jackson said in her statement to Glamour.
“We'll keep pushing until this league finally reflects the value of the women who make it run,” Jackson finished.
Collier also joked that the league is “too sensitive” when it comes to doling out fines over player comments. When the question of whether she herself would face a fine for the declarations she made in this interview came up, Collier remained unfazed and stood solidly in her conviction.
“I can talk about whatever I want to talk about,” Collier boldly responded.
