When Napheesa Collier gave her exit interview, she ensured it would be talked about for weeks to come. By now, every WNBA fan knows about the allegations the Minnesota Lynx star made against the WNBA commissioner, Cathy Engelbert. Amongst them, of course, was the viral claim that, when Collier attempted to negotiate the salary of WNBA players by using the revenue the league generates thanks to star players like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, Engelbert allegedly said Clark and other players “should be on their knees” in gratitude for the platform.

Engelbert even added that “Caitlin should be grateful” for her off-court earnings, because “without the platform the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything.” Well, after days of anticipation, the 60-year-old has finally given her response.

Cathy Engelbert recently participated in a presser a few minutes before the commencement of Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. During the same, she said, “Obviously I did not make those comments. Caitlin has been a transformational player in this league. She’s been a great representative of the game She’s brought tens of millions of new fans to the game.” Furthermore, the Commissioner sympathized with the star player’s recent injury troubles and applauded the Indiana Fever for getting to the Semi-Finals and putting out a good fight despite the presence of so many injured players. She concluded her answer by saying “there’s a lot of inaccuracies reported out there, and I certainly did not say that”.

These remarks come a few hours after Caitlin Clark herself broke her silence after quite a long gap. The Indiana Fever star participated in the Indiana Fever’s exit interviews, even though her groin injury prevented her from playing a game post-July. During the same time, she gave her flowers to Napheesa Collier by saying, “First of all, I have great respect for ‘Phee, and I think she made a lot of very valid points.” She didn’t dwell on the part of Collier’s remarks that involved her personally. Instead, she said, “What people need to understand is that we need great leadership in this time across all levels.”

Well, now that Cathy Engelbert spoke, that should have been the end of this issue, right? Well, not quite. After all, WNBA fans aren’t willing to accept a response like that.

WNBA Fans Criticize Cathy Engelbert Despite Reassuring People Over Caitlin Clark Claim

One social media user wrote, “Cathy is so full of s—, it took her 3 days to deny those statements”.

A few days after Napheesa Collier dropped the alleged bombshells, the WNBA commissioner released an official statement. Without mentioning Caitlin Clark, she said that she has the utmost respect for Napheesa Collier and the other players in the WNBA. She also added that her focus remains on ensuring a bright future for them.

Engelbert also mentioned, “I am disheartened by how Napheesa characterized our conversations and league leadership, but even when our perspectives differ, my commitment to the players and to this work will not waver.” However, besides that, she didn’t even try to deny the claims.

One individual wrote, “It seems to me that Cathy Engelbert does not get it.  Players no longer trust her leadership and it took her how many days to deny what Phee said.”

It wasn’t just Clark who spoke out. Her teammate, Sophie Cunningham, also took to Instagram after Collier’s comments went viral, and wrote, “people only know Cathy because of C…. She’s the most delusional leader our league has seen.” Meanwhile, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers also gave shoutout to the Minnesota Lynx star.

One social media user wrote, “Time for a new commissioner”.

The netizen is not alone in saying so. Renowned ESPN sportscaster Stephen A. Smith recently touched base on the whole Engelbert-Collier-Clark issue on ‘First Take’. He praised Clark by calling her the “Golden Goose of the WNBA”, while also saying he has the “utmost respect” for Napheesa Collier. However, when it came to Cathy Engelbert, Smith claimed that Engelbert had lost the trust of the players.

Furthermore, he added, “Let me say for the record: you should resign. When a player — any player — but especially one of that magnitude attacks you publicly like that, that weak a-s statement that Commissioner Engelbert gave is not good enough.”

One individual wrote, “I know Phee has a vested interest for Unrivaled but Phee wouldn’t lie about something big as that.” After Napheesa Collier made the claim, several netizens questioned whether the Lynx star was making it up just to give her own league the edge. It was last year when the player and New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart launched the 3 v 3 women’s basketball league Unrivaled. Just after one season, it gained a $340 million valuation and major new investors. 36 players have, as of now, signed for Season 2.

Though Unrivaled ensures its schedule does not clash with the WNBA, the growing popularity of the 3 v 3 league can make it a threat to the WNBA. While it makes sense why netizens would think of a conspiracy theory, there has been no evidence to prove that Napheesa Collier is spreading lies just to give Unrivaled an edge.

One social media user wrote, “Somebody is lying…”.

In the aftermath of Napheesa Collier’s remarks and the release of Cathy Engelbert’s initial statement, people began finding anything in the WNBA commissioner’s past that pointed to any form of resentment towards Caitlin Clark. A netizen recently did that by highlighting a clip from an old ’60 Minutes’ interview with Cathy Engelbert.

In the clip, the interviewer highlighted that whenever someone brings up Caitlin Clark as a point of discussion with her, she does not just talk about Clark. She discusses other rookies as well. Cathy Engelbert did not deny it. She stated her reason for doing so by saying that “No league’s ever about one player. That player could get hurt, or whatever. So I think it’s just to give recognition that, in sports, people watch for compelling content. Rivalries. And you can’t do that alone”.

Well, the other netizens certainly did not believe her, just like they aren’t doing it now.

Overall, the majority of social media users took a negative stance against Cathy Engelbert. This resentment can either be a phase or might have permanently damaged the reputation of the WNBA commissioner. Only time will tell, in due course, whether the resentment against Engelbert is here to stay or not.