Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier opened up on the reason for her fierce call-out of WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert last week. Her surprise statement in front of the media quickly generated tons of reactions that have continued to overshadow the ongoing WNBA Finals this year.
Collier made waves during the Lynx’ exit interview after their semifinals defeat to the Phoenix Mercury as she accused Engelbert of saying that “only losers complain” about officiating, and that players like Caitlin Clark “should be grateful” to the league because of the platform that it provides to earn money.
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Amid the stalled CBA negotiations between the players and the WNBA front office, Collier also expressed dissapointment in Engelbert’s leadership.
Collier explains why she called out Engelbert
Speaking at a recent event in Los Angeles with former Vice President Kamala Harris, Collier explained that while she never planned to call out Engelbert publicly, it was neccessary to do so “no matter the consequences”.
“I think I just got to the point where I was fed up. No matter the consequences, I felt like it was something that needed to be done,” she said.
The Lynx star further revealed during the conversation with Harris, that she felt no progress was being made during their discussions with the league, suggesting that relationship with the players have broken down.
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“For so long I felt like I saw what was going on behind closed doors. For so long we’d try to have these conversations and move the needle in those meetings we would have with the league, with our leadership, and I saw nothing was changing,” Collier added.
Napheesa Collier addresses Engelbert’s officiating comments
While Napheesa Collier didn’t specifically mention officiating in her conversation with Harris, she appeared to respond to Engelbert’s alleged comments on that.
“Coaches winning and losing alike were complaining about the same things over and over again, the players over and over again,” she said. “And we weren’t seeing change that our leadership was trying to make.”
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Since her public criticism of Cathy Engelbert, many WNBA stars have thrown support behind Collier over the past week. Meanwhile, the current CBA expires on Oct. 31 and the league faces a potential work stoppage unless a new collective bargaining agreement is reached before then.
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