In the days following Napheesa Collier's scathing exit interview about WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert and the state of the league's leadership, various players and sports commentators have backed up the Minnesota Lynx star's allegations. The latest seems to be WNBA legend Sue Bird, but she's had to remain a little more tight-lipped with her support of Collier's claims than the rest.
“Because I’m in ownership, I’m obviously in a little bit of a unique spot, in that I can't comment too much, but what I can talk about is history. And history has shown that when players use their voice, change happens. And it's sad to me that it still has to be that order of events,” Bird started.
“But it also just kind of gives everybody an idea. I think for me in my walk of life, what’s always so interesting … is just how much the public gets it wrong from time to time,” Bird said on her “Bird's Eye View” podcast.
“They just really don’t know how our league works. I think for a long time, they just mapped on what they knew about men’s sports, or specifically the NBA, and just assumed it was the same for us,” she explained. “So at times players have had to use their voice to really inform, really educate the public.”
Much to Bird's point, players in the W had to speak out publicly for years about the inadequate and unsafe transportation they were forced to take to games. The change from commercial to chartered flights only came after then-Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner was harassed at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in 2023.
Collier's informative criticism fell in line with the ridicule Engelbert and the WNBA's leadership have been receiving for years. Fans have been calling out the W's lack of vision and poor direction when it comes to fully capitalizing off of the high-quality product that the players have displayed on and off the court.
Player pay, media rights deals, scheduling, quality of referees, and the effort to minimize player injuries have all been among the hot-button topics that players have repeatedly brought up for the WNBA brass to address over the years. However, the W's players and fans are not only unsatisfied with the way those issues have been handled, but the overwhelming consensus is that a change at the top is necessary to get any tangible results, and many have started directly calling for Engelbert to resign.
Bird's support hasn't been as transparent, but she's made it clear that her priority is to back whichever actions are best for the WNBA in the long run.
