Caitlin Clark: Collier raised valid arguments about the leadership of the WNBA
Caitlin Clark, the Indiana Fever, said that Napheesa Collier raised many very valid arguments when the Minnesota Lynx star criticized the leadership of the WNBA Cathy Engelbert commissioner.
Indianapolis – Caitlin Clark, star of the Indiana Fever, said that Napheesa Collier “raised many very valid arguments” this week when the star of the Minnesota Lynx harshly criticized the leadership of the WNBA.
Clark added that he feels a “great respect for Phee” and that “Phee said everything.”
“I think what people should understand is that we need great leadership at this time at all levels,” said Clark, who lost most of the season due to injuries, on Thursday in their first appearance before the media since mid -July. “This is, without a doubt, the most important moment in the history of this League. This league has been working for more than 25 years and it is a time that we must take advantage of.”
Collier said Tuesday that the WNBA commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, told him that Clark “should be grateful to earn $ 16 million outside the court, because without the platform that the WNBA offers, he would not win anything.” Clark said he had not heard that story before and has not had news from Engelbert since Collier’s statements.
Clark did not respond directly to Engelbert’s alleged comment, but noted that Nil has allowed university players to develop their brands and earn money before reaching the league, as happened to her in Iowa.
Clark was also asked what he would consider a great leadership, in the context of the recent comments of the players, who are disappointed with what they have seen in the League.
“Everything is about relationships, and that is the truth,” said Clark. I know that it is very difficult to say it in professional sport, but be it the relationship with the directive, with the Commissioner of the League or with your companions … why would my companions want to listen to me if I did not have a relationship with them? I think it’s the simplest, and you have to be very aware of looking for those people and understanding them.
I would say that the most important leadership, either in the WNBA or in the American business world, is reduced to relationships and to really worry about the people around you.
Clark’s companion, Sophie Cunningham, was a step further by expressing her frustration.
“I am not very excited by our leadership in the W,” he said. “I just think they are failing us as a league, and definitely as players. And everything Napheesa said, we all feel like that, and we will all support it.” … I think it is quite shameful to always give importance to her, Cathy, when she shouldn’t have anything to do with her.
Cunningham added that some NBA players have communicated with us “impressed by how terrible it is … and feeling bad for us by how they treat us.”
“I’m tired of our league,” he continued. “They have to step forward and be better. Our leaders, from top to bottom, must give account. I think there are many people with power in the WNBA who, even if they are great entrepreneurs, have no basketball idea, and that has to change.
Cunningham strongly criticized the arbitration of the league, stating that the referees allow the situation to become a “battlefield.” He added that the League asks “improvements to change the criteria (on the decisions that must be made)”, but states that little has been done in this regard.
The base of the Faver also described the leadership of the league in the context of the negotiations of the collective agreement as “very, very poor”. The WNB and WNBA players association are in the midst of conversations with the current collective agreement, which expires at the end of October, and the players have increasingly expressed their exasperation for the stagnation of the negotiations.
Cunningham said the players have a call on Thursday to receive updated information.
“There is a possible employer closure, because I promise you that we are not going to play until they give us what we deserve,” said Cunningham. “And unfortunately, that is what is happening, what would be the most silly decision in terms of business, considering the impulse that WNBA has right now.
Cunningham and Clark were two of the five Faver players who were discarded for the 2025 season for injuries that ended the season. Clark, who only played 13 games and played for the last time in mid -July, said he was injured his ankle in August with “probably one of the worst sprains that I have suffered” while recovering from his groin injury. The first prevented him from seeing how he had recovered from the second.
Clark said that “he has probably begun to feel better” in the last two weeks and hopes to start incorporating 5 against 5 to his work on the court by the end of October. It will also prepare for opportunities with the USA Basketball in the coming months.
