For the first time in its 28-year history, the WNBA is in the swim, instead of getting washed over.
Television ratings are through the roof, arenas are close to capacity, and, after adding a new team this year to booming success, the game will welcome five new franchises in the coming years, as well as another new media partner, USA Network.
The championship round, now in progress, is a seven-game affair, rather than a one, or three or five game series, with two big names, four-time MVP Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson and former Maryland star Alyssa Thomas, of the Phoenix Mercury, should be dominating the conversation.
Yet, it’s two other names, Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx and WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, two people who won’t even take the court, that are threatening to swallow up all the oxygen of the Finals.
Collier’s Lynx were eliminated by the Mercury in the semifinals.
Collier was injured late in Game 3 on a play where she and Thomas made contact and no foul was called.
Collier was unable to play in the following and ultimately deciding game. In a subsequent press conference, she unleashed a torrent of criticism at the league office in general and at Engelbert in particular.
Besides contending that the league’s officiating is substandard, Collier levied a broadside at Engelbert, claiming, among other things, that the commissioner had told her, in a private conversation, that the league’s players should quote be on their knees thanking their lucky stars unquote for the media deals she landed.
According to Collier, Engelbert said Caitlin Clark, the league’s media darling, should be quote grateful unquote for the platform the WNBA gives her.
In her own presser, held just before Game 1 of the Finals, Engelbert, in her seventh year as commissioner, stopped short of calling Collier a liar but denied making the statement about Clark specifically.
As for the rest, Engelbert said there were quote inaccuracies unquote but only addressed them generally, not specifically, leaving the impression among many that Collier wasn’t too far off.
This kerfuffle comes at a particularly touchy time for the WNBA. Not only is there the booming growth mentioned at the top, but also as the league and its players are negotiating for a new collective bargaining agreement.
The union opted out of the existing CBA last year and the current deal expires at the end of this month. All sides agree that the players are criminally underpaid, but, as you might expect, there is disagreement over the degree.
But Collier’s complaints were also about the competency of the league, how well it operates, especially about its officiating crew, which, frankly would have to improve to be mediocre.
Engelbert, whose background is as a businesswoman, is seen by many, especially among the ranks of the players, as incapable of keeping the WNBA with the big fish rather than foundering in their wake. She has roughly three weeks to prove them wrong before someone else swims the anchor lap to victory.
And that’s how I see it for this week. You can reach us via email with your questions and comments at Sports at Large at gmail.com. And follow me on BlueSky, Threads and X at Sports at Large.
Until next week, for all of us here and for producer Lisa Morgan, I’m Milton Kent. Thanks for listening. Enjoy the games.
