SAN FRANCISCO — The WNBA wants fans to believe the league is in its golden era.
Sold-out arenas. Surging TV ratings. A host of stars turning into household names. All of it culminated in the league’s best year by far.
But what good is the momentum if the league can’t protect the very players driving it?
Night after night this season, games have been marred by erratic officiating and the players’ pleas for change have been met with shrugs from the league office.
Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase has been warning about iffy – at best – officiating all season, arguing that the lack of consistency is only hurting the league’s product while putting players in harm’s way.
Some fans rolled their eyes at the first-year head coach. Argued that this is the way the league is.
But after the league’s last week, Nakase doesn’t look like a coach making excuses anymore.
She looks like a prophet the league refused to listen to.
Following their semifinal loss to the Phoenix Mercury, Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier ripped the league and commissioner Cathy Engelbert on Tuesday, saying “We have the worst leadership in the world.”
With a looming CBA negotiation approaching and the threat of a potential lockout clouding the 2026 season, Collier’s comments underscore an uncomfortable truth: At a time when the WNBA is asking the public to buy in, its response to its own players and coaches has been tone-deaf at best and negligent at worst.
Last Friday, Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve blasted officials after Collier suffered a left ankle injury on a controversial play in which Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas stripped the five-time All-Star and no foul was called. Reeve called the officiating crew’s work “(Expletive) malpractice,” and blamed the league, saying, “When you let the physicality happen, people get hurt, there’s fights, and this is the look that our league wants for some reason.”
Whether the play should have been a foul is still up for debate, but the league certainly listened to Reeve’s comments and devised a constructive way to punish her while also realizing the importance of the moment, right?
Wrong.
The league suspended Reeve for the decisive closeout game and fined her $15,000, according to The Athletic. And to make matters worse, the league also fined Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon and Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White for publicly supporting Reeve.
“From what I heard, she did not tell a lie,” Hammon said Sunday. “She said the truth.”
All of this culminated in Collier’s comments on Tuesday.
Along with criticizing the league for its poor officiating, Collier shared her conversations with Engelbert about a variety of issues. Engelbert has said in a statement that Collier mischaracterized their discussions, but what the Lynx star said was jarring.
On the issue of poor officiating, Collier said Elgelbert told her, “Well, only the losers complain about the refs.”
When she asked Engelbert about how the league plans to raise wages so players like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers – the three biggest draws in the league – can get paid a respectable wage, Collier said the commissioner replied, “Caitlin should be grateful she makes $60 million off the court because without the platform the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything.”
Regarding the league’s new media rights deal, Collier alleges that Engelbert said, “Players should be on their knees thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal that I got them.”
While Engelbert disputes the nature of Collier’s claims, it still speaks to a bigger issue: Trust between the players and the league is fraying when the league can least afford it.
This is the same Engelbert who mistakenly called Seattle’s Gabby Williams, thinking she was Washington Mystics forward Sonia Citron, to congratulate the rookie on making the All-Star team.
This is the same Engelbert who couldn’t even pronounce Nakase’s name correctly when presenting her with the coach of the year award last week.
And this will be the same commissioner who will head the league’s negotiations with the players to try to avoid a lockout next year.
Unlike in other major pro sports with higher salaries, about half of the league’s players play elsewhere during the offseason, according to a report from Sportico.
With new professional women’s basketball leagues in the U.S., such as Unrivaled and Athletes Unlimited, players will have stateside options other than the WNBA, should a lockout occur.
If Engelbert and the league continue to dismiss player concerns about safety, salaries or basic respect, they are going to risk more than just bad optics. The league will risk alienating the athletes who built this new era of women’s hoops.
With rival leagues waiting in the wings and a potential lockout looming, the WNBA can’t afford to be tone deaf any longer.
The players have spoken. The coaches have spoken. Now, it’s the league’s turn.
If Engelbert and the league don’t start listening, this golden era can tarnish faster than anyone could imagine.