Napheesa Collier is prepared to take historic action against Cathy Engelbert and the WNBA originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Napheesa Collier’s 2025 season ended in disappointing fashion. The Minnesota Lynx‘s superstar forward suffered a Grade 2 tear of three ligaments in her left ankle and a torn muscle in her shin during Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals against the Phoenix Mercury — an injury that ended her season, one game before the Mercury eliminated the Lynx to reach the WNBA Finals.
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But after the season ended, Collier became the face of the WNBPA’s labor battle with the WNBA over a new collective bargaining agreement.
In an incendiary, unprecedented statement against commissioner Cathy Engelbert, Collier decried the WNBA as having the “worst leadership in the world,” and her relationship with Engelbert disintegrated completely after Engelbert denied comments she allegedly made about Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark’s earnings.
The breakdown in the relationship between the league’s spokesperson for ownership (Engelbert) and the vice president of the players’ association (Collier) is one factor impeding negotiations over a new CBA. With the current agreement — in place since 2020 — set to expire on Friday, Collier has spoken in a new interview about the urgency that the players’ union feels in getting a deal done, and what they are prepared to lose to ensure historic gains in a new CBA.
Collier: The players will not give an inch in CBA talks
In an interview with Glamour, as part of the magazine’s “WNBA Women of the Year” series, Collier reaffirmed her stance on the CBA negotiations in the days leading up to the agreement’s expiration. In short: the players are prepared for a work stoppage, and they are resolute in their willingness to walk out of the room should negotiations continue to drag.
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“If we give in, weâre not only doing a disservice to us, weâre doing a disservice to where we have gotten in womenâs sports,â Collier told Glamour’s Emily Tannenbaum. “We really have no choice but to stand strong again, not just for the present, but for the future of our league too.”
Not taking “no” for an answer is a common thread that has run throughout Collier’s life. Under Geno Auriemma’s tutelage at the University of Connecticut, Collier won an NCAA championship as a freshman in 2016, but she entered the WNBA an undersized power forward. No matter; Collier was named Rookie of the Year in 2019 and has won selection to five All-Star games. She was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2024 and its MVP runner-up in both 2024 and 2025, playing the best basketball of her career following the birth of her daughter Mila in 2022.
Even as a WNBPA executive committee member, Collier was instrumental in the founding of the offseason Unrivaled league, a 3-on-3 competition that has a broadcast rights deal with TNT and offers higher salaries than the WNBA. Alex Bazzell, Collier’s husband, serves as the league’s president.
While Unrivaled cannot be considered a true competitor to the 15-team WNBA, the fact that salaries there are greater than in the WÂ is not a good look for Engelbert and the league’s executives. With no new CBA in sight before Friday’s deadline — and knowing that up to 42 of the WNBA’s best players are set to play in Unrivaled — Collier believes she has more leverage than ever.
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âWe are standing really firm on what we want, and weâre not going to give in before we get it,” she said.
