Lynx superstar Napheesa Collier walked into her end-of-the-season media session with local reporters with a boot on her left ankle, a two-page statement in her hand and something pressing on her mind.
Once she sat down, Collier held nothing back. After congratulating the Phoenix Mercury for advancing to the WNBA Finals, Collier spent the next four minutes ripping WNBA leadership and Commissioner Cathy Engelbert for failing to address yearslong complaints about inconsistent officiating and excessively physical play.
The room where she spoke, at the club’s Mayo Clinic Square offices in downtown Minneapolis, fell silent as Collier went after a sitting commissioner in a manner rarely seen from an active player in any sport. Collier criticized league leadership for its “tone-deaf, dismissive approach,” failing to acknowledge a problem that’s obvious to players, coaches and fans.
“Our leadership’s answer to being held accountable is to suppress everyone’s voices by handing out fines,” Collier said, a not-so-oblique reference to league discipline against Lynx Coach Cheryl Reeve and others for criticizing officials. “I’m concerned about the future of our sport. At some point, everyone deserves to hear the truth from someone who I hope has earned the benefit of the doubt to fight for what is right and fair for our athletes and our fans.
‘Worst leadership in the world’
“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.”
While insisting she spoke only for herself, Collier — the Lynx captain and a vice president of the WNBA players association — sent a clear message for the league’s upcoming labor negotiations: We’re tired of you not listening to us, and things need to change. Now.
Collier’s comments came two days after Phoenix eliminated the top-seeded Lynx in four games in the WNBA semifinals. The Mercury’s physicality overwhelmed the Lynx, who won Game 1, blew a 20-point lead to lose Game 2, and never recovered.
Inconsistent officiating has been an ongoing topic in the league for years — specifically, that refs allow too much contact and not enough freedom of movement.
“Just hearing over and over again, ‘We have the best refs in the world, we don’t have a problem, none of the injuries are due to physicality and the way that we’re reffing,’ it’s an insult to our intelligence, honestly,” Collier said. “I’ve played this game for my entire life and you don’t think I know what it looks like? Whether the league believes it has a problem or not, just acknowledging it to the players would be a step in the right direction.
“There is clearly a problem. People across the board — players, winning, losing, fans — everyone can see there’s a problem. If they could just accept that and put a plan in place to make changes, that would go a long way, even in the progression of how it’s being handled.”
Collier’s criticism of Engelbert didn’t stop there. She recalled asking Engelbert last February how the league planned to address officiating issues. “Her response was, ‘Only the losers complain about the refs,’” Collier said.
Collier added she also asked Engelbert how to square the fact that young stars Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers, whose popularity drive league revenues, will make well under $100,000 salary in each of the first three years in their entry-level contracts. According to Collier, Engelbert responded, “Caitlin should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court, because without the platform the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t be making anything.” (Clark signed endorsement deals with brands like Nike, State Farm, Buick and Hy-Vee long before playing her first WNBA game.)
Lastly, Collier said Engelbert told her players should be “on their knees, thanking their lucky stars” for media rights deals she negotiated.
“That’s the mentality driving our league from the top,” Collier said. “We go to battle every day to protect a shield that doesn’t value us. The league believes it succeeds despite its players, not because of them.”
Collier expects to be fined for speaking out. “It seems like anything with free speech is fined now,” she said.
In a statement released by the WNBA, Engelbert was quoted saying she had the “utmost respect” for Collier and all WNBA players.
“My focus remains on ensuring a bright future for the players and the WNBA, including collaborating on how we continue to elevate the game,” the statement read. “I am disheartened by how Napheesa characterized our conversations and league leadership, but even when our perspectives differ, my commitment to the players and to this work will not waver.”
The positive reaction from many of Collier’s peers, in interviews and on social media, suggest she isn’t the only person feeling this way. “We back everything Phee said,” said teammate Alanna Smith.
“Obviously, Phee’s voice is a really important one,” Reeve said. “I’m proud of Phee.”
Collier was drawn into the physicality/officiating discussion late in Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals, when Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas stole the ball from her and drove for a clinching basket. Their legs tangled and Coller grotesquely turned her left ankle, tearing several ligaments and a shin muscle. Collier said she could not have played had the Lynx advanced to the WNBA Finals. No foul was called. The official NBA Referees X account explained that the contact was “incidental” while the ball was clearly loose:
Reeve ran onto the floor to complain to one of the officials, earning her second technical foul and an automatic ejection. That, plus Reeve cursing out a fan on the way off the floor and ripping the officiating postgame, drew a hefty $15,000 fine and one-game suspension. Coaches Becky Hammon of Las Vegas and Stephanie White of Indiana were fined $1,000 each for agreeing with Reeve’s sentiments. The Lynx squandered a 14-point lead to lose Game 4, 86-81, with Reeve watching from the team hotel.
Reeve said she didn’t second-guess her response to Collier’s injury, though she regretted not being on the bench for the final game.
“I’m responsible for tempering my emotions at times, and I’ve largely done that,” Reeve said. “A cumulative effect that started last season of seeing your star player getting run through on a play, that’s what you saw.
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“I can only be me. I’ll never apologize for being me. I do think it’s important to grow and understand consequences of actions, for sure. But I will always stand up for my players’ health and safety, and fair treatment of our organization. I will try to continue to grow in what those improvements look like.”
So ended the club’s so-called “revenge tour,” the determination to win the franchise’s fifth WNBA title after losing last year’s deciding Game 5 to the New York Liberty in overtime. Reeve, despite her Game 3 comments, said officiating didn’t decide the Phoenix series. It was her team’s failure to match the Mercury’s physicality, especially in the fourth quarter of the three losses, when the Lynx couldn’t get enough good shots against the Mercury’s intense defense to hold on to leads.
“We are in no way blaming the officiating for our shortcomings in not winning the series,” Reeve said. ”Our roster wasn’t necessarily equipped to handle (stepped-up physicality). That was something we were very self aware of, and tried to fix with our trade for DiJonai (Carrington, who missed the series with a sprained ankle). I think it was a roster flaw. Ultimately, we didn’t have enough.”
What happens next is hard to predict. The Lynx’s top eight players, including Carrington, are all unrestricted free agents; most veterans leaguewide timed their contracts to end this season to take advantage of higher salaries in the next collective bargaining agreement. Who stays, and who goes? Depending on how the CBA negotiations progress, we may be well into springtime before we find out. For now, it’s the end of a season of lost opportunity.
The post Lynx’s Napheesa Collier sends a message ahead of WNBA labor talks: Start listening to players appeared first on MinnPost.
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