How WNBA reached a crisis point — Hear Napheesa Collier’s statement in full

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After congratulating the Phoenix Mercury for advancing to the WNBA Finals, Collier followed by saying: “This conversation is not about winning or losing. It’s about something much bigger. The real threat to our league isn’t money. It isn’t ratings or even missed calls or even physical play. It’s the lack of accountability from the league office.”

What followed over a remarkable four minutes-plus was a lifting of the curtain in how Collier views not only the league’s efforts on officiating, but its theory of the case in the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations and relationship-building with players, Collier included.

This storm has been brewing, and just how widespread a problem Engelbert and the league have was visible in the breadth and depth of response over the past several days. When Cheryl Reeve absolutely blew up during the final seconds of Game 3, a response which she continued into her postgame comments, it reflected more than the accumulated frustration for Reeve over a feeling that officiating had cost her Lynx both the 2016 and 2024 WNBA titles (Another day for this, but it’s not unfounded!).

What should have been a flashing warning light for the league: numerous other coaches still in the playoffs echoed her sentiments.

Instead of acknowledging the issue, the league leaned further into its punitive efforts and fined both Stephanie White and Becky Hammon as well. Three figures with over a half-century of WNBA experience as players and coaches provided public validation of the view that the WNBA has a problem with officiating, a view shared by over a dozen league sources The IX Sports spoke with this week. The league, to use a legal term, dismissed these pleas with prejudice.

Several noted the contrast between this effort and the lack of resolution or punishment in the ongoing investigation of the Las Vegas Aces — one which, another team’s official noted, Engelbert and the league would enjoy widespread support on should they respond maximally to it once the investigation concludes or by taking steps to accelerate that process through litigation.

But the officiating problem is multifaceted, and requires some solutions that extend well beyond the league’s capacity to act alone.

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As Kareem Copeland has reported, there is a sizable difference between how NBA and WNBA refs are compensated, both on a per-game and annual basis. (There is even an enormous gap between how college refs are paid in the women’s game and the WNBA.)

As a result, WNBA referees often aim to “move up” to the NBA. Exactly how often this happens, and just how large the gap between NBA and WNBA official pay, is unclear — the National Basketball Referees Association, which represents both NBA and WNBA officials, did not respond to multiple requests for this information. But it is understood around the WNBA that the gap is enormous and any change in officiating has to account for it, both for reasons of attracting talent and keeping it.

Notably, there isn’t anything approaching a consensus on whether the league is too physical or the physicality is just where it should be. (I did not speak to anyone who believed it needs to be more physical.)

But as even those who expressed satisfaction with the amount of uncalled contact pointed out, a league with more of that than the NBA needs more skilled officials, not less — to figure out how to draw those lines with consistency, to find the balance between how often to blow the whistle and what would constitute too many stoppages in play, and to help bottle up escalations before they get out of hand.

All of which means a WNBA with more physicality than ever — and the longest-tenured WNBA figures I spoke with uniformly believe that is the case — needs better-paid referees. But exactly where will the pressure for that come from? The NBRA does not appear to have a public-facing arm, with a website that hasn’t been updated in three years and a general mailbox. (It had a PR person, who left in 2020, and does not appear to have been replaced.)

Nor does the WNBPA view its role as one to put pressure on the league to do this. It is the PA’s belief that the place to address this is in collective bargaining talks between the league and the NBRA.

Of course, without that happening, and absent public pressure from the WNBPA on this front — or, really, on any front since the All Star Game, a point noted to me repeatedly, including by WNBPA members, as I reported out this piece — the working conditions its members feel are dangerous are left in place. Or as Collier put it: “Telling my agent that she doesn’t believe physical play is contributing to injuries. That is infuriating, and it’s the perfect example of the tone-deaf, dismissive approach that our leaders always seem to take.”

Note the plural, and Collier’s decision to make this statement without even a heads-up to the WNBPA, multiple sources familiar with her thinking told The IX Sports. The WNBA has not treated Unrivaled like a threat, so far. But Collier’s statement made it clear that she doesn’t see her position as different from that of Engelbert’s, and a pair of commissioners speaking is a very different dynamic from a traditional labor negotiation.

Everything that comes next is messy, without clear solutions. Always remember: Engelbert works for the entities that own the WNBA, which includes the teams in the league and the NBA itself. So when the WNBPA hasn’t made officiating a consistent point of emphasis — even when the current CBA, the one expiring at the end of October, has roles for the players in officiating on everything from a voting role on the Competition Committee to the right to ask for annual meetings with the league and NBRA to address players concerns — it is harder for Engelbert to make the case to those owners that spending more money on officiating is necessary.

And in what promises to be a significant final month ahead of the CBA expiring, Terri Jackson now faces a potential internal revolt on everything from the points of primary concern in the ongoing negotiation to a membership who could take its cues from Collier and take the entire fight public, rather than keeping these concerns internal, long Jackson’s preferred method of negotiating.

That, too, creates further headaches for Engelbert as she attempts to get a deal done. Any efforts to respond to criticism of the officials will now look like retribution, and failure to do so will put officials under an even bigger microscope heading into a seven-game series between two of the most physical teams in the league, no matter who wins Game 5 Tuesday night between Indiana and Las Vegas. Both the Fever and Aces, remember, have head coaches who haven’t shied away from criticizing the officiating.

To her credit, Engelbert did not respond to Collier with negativity in her initial statement about Collier’s comments Tuesday afternoon. She has understood throughout this process that there is no hostile way forward to a solution here. And that, paired with a significant increase in compensation, is still the league’s best bet for getting a deal done.

But with a deadline looming — October 31 isn’t the real deadline provided both sides agree to keep negotiating, but an offseason with multiple expansion teams and a massive number of free agents means it cannot drift too far into 2026 — Tuesday provided an warning that positivity alone may not be enough.

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This week in women’s basketball

Jackie Powell is must-read on the end of Sandy Brondello’s Liberty tenure.

You’re only surprised Kelsey Mitchell is doing this if you haven’t been watching Mitchell her whole career.

Maitreyi Anantharaman on the Lynx.

Cassandra Negley on the officiating.

What happened to the Chicago Sky?

And Jordan Robinson gets you ready for Game 5.

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Five at The IX: Napheesa Collier’s full statement

(Editor’s note: click play, I promise it is Phee and not Courtney Williams)

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