Napheesa Collier, the WNBA All-Star who recently put the league’s leadership on blast, received praise from fellow players in response to her four-minute callout aimed at WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert and the league office.
Speaking at a postseason news conference Tuesday, the Minnesota Lynx forward read a pointed statement in which she criticized the WNBA’s officiating and said the league has the “worst leadership in the world,” describing the league office as “tone-deaf” and “dismissive.” Collier, who is the WNBPA vice president, revealed conversations she had with Engelbert, as the players’ union and league engage in CBA negotiations with an Oct. 31 deadline to reach a new agreement.
Advertisement
Her comments have sparked a media storm for the WNBA, drawing more attention to the league and Collier’s place in helping chart its future during the ongoing labor talks. The 29-year-old Jefferson City, Mo., native is known for her humble demeanor, thoughtful approach and typically quiet leadership style that has recently grown louder.
A few other star players chimed in on the comments and expressed their support for Collier, indicating her well-respected stature around the league. “I’m going to ride with Phee always,” said four-time MVP A’ja Wilson, who described Collier as a “business girlie” who “has her own stuff going on.” Collier is also a founder of the 3×3 pro league Unrivaled.
“I’m very appreciative that we have people like Phee in our committee of players association representing us, because that’s what we are going to have to continue to make the push to stand on what we believe in,” Wilson told reporters Tuesday after the Aces reached the WNBA Finals. “I’m grateful to have those types of people be able to continue to speak up for us.”
Paige Bueckers, the WNBA Rookie of the Year, posted a photo on Tuesday on her Instagram story of herself and Collier with the caption “Queen Phee.” The WNBPA also backed Collier and highlighted her leadership qualities.
Advertisement
“When Phee speaks, people listen,” the WNBPA said in a statement Tuesday. “We are confident that her words today speak to the feelings and experiences of many, if not most or all of our members. The leaders of the league and its teams would benefit from listening to her powerful statement. The players know their value even if the league does not. They are fighting for their legacy and the future of basketball.”
In a statement through a league spokesperson, Engelbert said she has “the utmost respect for Napheesa Collier and for all the players in the WNBA. … 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.”
Marney Gellner, a longtime play-by-play announcer for the Lynx and Timberwolves, has known Collier since she joined the Lynx in 2019 as a first-round draft pick. Gellner remembered calling Collier’s debut game, when she scored 27 points against the Chicago Sky to open her Rookie of the Year campaign.
“She just kind of burst onto the scene,” Gellner said. “And she’s really been that way ever since.”
Advertisement
Collier has averaged 18.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists over a WNBA career that has seen her named to five All-Star teams (she was also this year’s All-Star Game MVP). She has long been considered a top player — she’s a two-time Olympic gold medalist with Team USA (2020 and 2024) and a 2016 NCAA champion with the UConn Huskies — and in recent years, Collier has taken on more leadership responsibilities. Gellner said she noticed the shift in Collier after she was named the Lynx’s sole captain ahead of the 2023 season, the team’s first season without franchise legend Sylvia Fowles after her retirement.
“That was really (when Collier stepped) into the responsibility, kind of put more on her shoulders that maybe she didn’t ask for, but she was ready for. And (she) really thrived in that role. And that’s when we really started to see her more (with media) availability and interviews, and leading things on the court.”
Diplomacy is also baked into Collier’s background: her grandfather, Gershon Collier, was the first permanent representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations in 1961. He helped negotiate the country’s independence from Britain that year and later served as Sierra Leone’s chief justice. Gamal Collier, Napheesa’s father and Gershon’s son, told The New York Times in 2017 that his father “always said that he was the last ambassador (President John F. Kennedy) received.”
Said Napheesa in that same profile: “I always heard from movies and stuff, don’t talk about politics and religion at the dinner table. We would talk about anything, really. Nothing was off the table. I think we’re really open with that.”
Advertisement
According to that article, Collier “heard numerous stories from her father about the importance of self-sufficiency and responsibility and upholding the family name.”
Collier’s family now also includes her husband Alex Bazzell, a basketball trainer, and their daughter, Mila, who was born in May 2022. Collier and Bazzell worked together to launch Unrivaled, which played its inaugural season last year and offered its players (many of whom are WNBA stars) an average reported salary of more than $220,000, around the maximum base salary in the WNBA.
“She is honestly one of the most impressive people I’ve ever been around,” Gellner said. “She does so many things so well. Her basketball talent is something that a lot of people can see and have seen, and appreciated. And I think people are now starting to see the off-the-court side of her. And it’s equally as impressive.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Minnesota Lynx, WNBA, Sports Business
2025 The Athletic Media Company
