Caitlin Clark Backs Napheesa Collier, Says WNBA Is Facing Most Important Moment Ever

Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark believes the Minnesota Lynx's Napheesa Collier "said it all" with her withering statement about the WNBA and commissioner Cathy Engelbert.

"I have great respect for Phee and I think she made a lot of valid points," Clark told reporters Thursday during her exit interview. "This is straight-up the most important moment in our league."

During her own exit interview Tuesday, Collier opened by reading from prepared remarks. In addition to criticizing Engelbert, the five-time All-Star detailed conversations she had with the commissioner this past February.

During their chat, Collier brought up the low contracts that rookies sign after being drafted, which can pale in comparison to the impact they're providing to the league.

Engelbert purportedly responded that Clark, one of the players Collier cited as an example, "should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court because without the platform that the WNBA gives her, she wouldn't make anything."

Clark said Thursday she was caught off guard by Collier's statement and that Engelbert hasn't contacted her in the aftermath:

During her time with reporters, Indiana guard Sophie Cunningham echoed a lot of the themes Collier highlighted.

Cunningham called the 2025 season "amazing in so many ways" as the depleted Fever were one win away from the WNBA Finals. She added that this year "was also a season from hell."

The seventh-year veteran wants more accountability from the league at a structural level:

Cunningham was more explicit when she said WNBA leadership is "failing us as a league" and "failing us as players." She claimed Engelbert "always makes it about her" as well.

The reaction to Collier's statement inside and outside of the league was swift. Multiple players around the WNBA expressed solidarity, and prominent media voices have offered pointed assessments of the commissioner.

Clark didn't take WNBA leadership to task in the same way Collier or Cunningham did, but her broad support shows how players are unified amid negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement.