Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier has reportedly canceled her planned meeting with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, escalating tensions between the league’s leadership and its players as the 2025 season draws to a close, according to ESPN reporters Kendra Andrews and Ramona Shelburne.
The cancellation comes just weeks before the WNBA’s October 31 deadline to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the players' union. Collier serves as vice president of the union’s executive board and has been explicit about concerns regarding league leadership, player compensation, and officiating.
Collier initially spoke out during her end-of-season press conference shortly after suffering a major ankle injury in Game 3 of the semifinals against the Phoenix Mercury. She was later diagnosed with a torn ligament and torn muscle, which kept her out of Minnesota’s Game 4 loss, a defeat that eliminated the Lynx from the playoffs.
She criticized league leadership directly, stating:
“We have the best players in the world. We have the best fans in the world. But right now we have the worst leadership in the world.”
Collier’s words carry added weight as a veteran player and co-founder of the 3-on-3 league Unrivaled, which features several WNBA athletes and has long tussled with the league since its inaugural season last year.
The 29-year-old recalled that in a private conversation, Engelbert told her only losers complain about the refs. She also asked whether the league planned to boost rookie salaries for stars like Caitlin Clark.
“Her response was, ‘Caitlin should be grateful. She makes 16 million off the court because without the platform that the WNBA gives her, she wouldn't make anything,” Collier said Tuesday. “In that same conversation, she told me, ‘Players should be on their knees, thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal that I got them.'”
Engelbert addressed the criticism during a Friday press conference ahead of Game 1 of the WNBA Finals in Las Vegas. While acknowledging she had communicated with Collier via text and had a meeting scheduled, Engelbert denied making certain remarks about Clark and the kneeling comment.
One source told Andrews and Shelburne that Engelbert’s public comments “have pretty much pushed the relationship beyond repair.”
“There is a lot of inaccuracy out there through social media and all of this reporting,” Engelbert said on Friday. “I highly respect the players. There is a lot of emotion and passion going on right now between collective bargaining. … I am obviously disheartened.”
