WNBA leadership is in hot water after Napheesa Collier's scathing comments on Tuesday. Collier said the WNBA has “the worst leadership in the world” after several players and coaches have spoken out against the league. Now the calls are coming in that WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert should resign her post.
ESPN's Stephen A. Smith called for her resignation on Wednesday via First Take.
“Cathy Engelbert, the commissioner of the [WNBA]… let me say for the record, you should resign,” Smith said. “You need to resign. Period.”
Smith cited Collier's comments against WNBA leadership, and Engelbert's poor response, as evidence that she should resign.
“When a player, any player but especially one of that magnitude, attacks you publicly like that…,” Smith continued. “That weak a*s statment commissioner Engelbert gave is not good enough.”
Engelbert said in a statement that she was “disheartened” by Collier's comments. However, she did not push back on any of the claims Collier made during her exit interview on Tuesday.
“And did you see that statement that commissioner Engelbert gave? She basically provided no defense of herself,” Smith concluded. “[Collier's] words were piercing. That was an attack against your leadership, it was an attack against your integrity, it was an attack against your character… and that's the statement you came out with?”
Cathy Engelbert drama comes during crucial WNBA negotiations with WNBPA
The recent firestorm surrounding Cathy Engelbert could not have come at a worse time for the WNBA.
The league is currently negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the players' union, the WNBPA. Unfortunately, those negotiations are not looking good.
WNBPA vice president Kelsey Plum gave a sobering update about those negotiations on Tuesday.
“There’s been multiple proposals that have gone back and forth, and neither is close. It feels almost the more that we have presented, the further away we are, which is just unfortunate,” Plum revealed recently, per The Athletic's Sabreena Merchant.
Both sides have until October 31st to come to an agreement on a new CBA. If they cannot reach an agreement in time, the WNBA could face a lockout.
The 2026 offseason was already going to be incredibly eventful for the W. Both the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire are set to join the WNBA as expansion franchises this winter.
These negotiations will be under the microscope for the next month.
