Yesterday could be known as the day everything changed in the WNBA. Star player Napheesa Collier (known by fans as Phee) gave an exit interview after her team the Minnesota Lynx were eliminated in the playoffs. Collier, who was injured during the playoff series, read from a prepared statement that shocked everyone watching—if not for its contents, for its frankness.
Collier criticized league leadership, and specifically commissioner (and former Deloitte CEO) Cathy Engelbert, in the strongest terms. “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,” she said. Of all the WNBA’s current players, Collier has perhaps the most exposure to what it takes to run a sports league. She cofounded Unrivaled, the VC-backed women’s basketball league that runs during the WNBA off-season; it’s led by her husband. She said she’s seen that work up close—and it reinforced her belief that the athletes she plays alongside are not being served by their current league leaders, from business strategy to general leadership—like reaching out to players when they’re seriously injured.
This week’s concerns started with officiating. Three out of 13 total head coaches were suspended or fined by the league for complaining about refs in the playoffs. Now, thanks to Phee, it’s boiled over into a bigger discussion about the state of the league. Other players, from Angel Reese to the Indiana Fever’s Lexie Hull, have voiced support for Collier and co-signed everything she said. Even Mark Cuban has weighed in, calling officiating issues in both the NBA and WNBA “purely a management issue.”
