Stacey Dales, a senior reporter for NFL network and former WNBA All-Star guard, piled on WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after Lynx star Napheesa Collier ripped the league’s leadership during her end of the season press conference Tuesday.
Taking to X, Dales said she got the cold shoulder from Engelbert and WNBA after she retired in 2008 — and that she never heard from the commissioner or the league when she tried to support its expansion team in Toronto.
“I hosted a prominent WNBA event a couple of years ago. ‘Welcome to the league, Toronto,'” Dales wrote. “The Toronto team intro — it was exceptional. The TO people were amazing. I did it for free. I never once heard from Cathy or the WNBA or league in general. Nothing. Not a single bump on their social media.
“Frankly, it seemed like she didn’t know I played for the league at all. I walked away wondering if she even knew me. I have never heard from the league since I left the game.”
Dales added, “The NFL treats me so kindly. Not like this.”
Engelbert became the commissioner of the WNBA in July 2019, after her four-year term as CEO of Deloitte concluded.
Dales was the third overall pick by the Washington Mystics in the 2002 WNBA draft, and she went on to play seven seasons, including a stint with the Chicago Sky.
The Ontario native was a member of the Canadian team for the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Her tweet came shortly after Collier publicly criticized Engelbert in a prepared statement at her exit press conference — alleging that the WNBA commissioner was “negligent” in her role.
Collier revealed alleged conversations she had with Engelbert in February while at Unrivaled — the basketball league in Miami that Collier and her husband, Alex Bazzell, co-founded with Liberty star Breanna Stewart — and that Engelbert dismissed her inquiry about how the WNBA handle its issues with officiating.
“Her response was, ‘Well only the losers complain about the refs,’” Collier said, later adding, “We have the best players in the world. We have the best fans in the world. But right now, we have the worst leadership in the world.”
Collier also said she asked Engelbert about how she plans to “fix” players’ salaries for the WNBA’s young stars, Caitlin Clark (Fever), Paige Bueckers (Wings) and Angel Reese (Sky), all of whom are generating massive revenue for the league.
“[Engelbert’s] response was, ‘Caitlin should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court, because without the platform that the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything.’
“In that same conversation, she told me, ‘players should be on their knees thanking their lucky stars for the media rights deal that I got them.'”
Collier’s comments came after the five-time All-Star suffered a season-ending ankle injury on a no-call in the final moments of Minnesota’s Game 3 loss to the Phoenix Mercury in the Western Conference semifinals Sunday.
Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve lost it on the referees after no foul was called, and was ejected. She was fined $15,000 and suspended for Game 4 of the series, a Lynx season-ending loss.
Sports Business Journal reported that Engelbert is likely to resign following the completion of its upcoming CBA negotiations.
The WNBAPA backed Collier in a statement, saying in part, “We are confident that her words today speak to the feelings and experiences of many, if not most or all of our members.”
Engelbert responded to Collier’s comments in her own statement Tuesday.
“I have the utmost respect for Napheesa Collier and for all the players in the WNBA,” she said. “Together we have all worked tirelessly to transform this league. My focus remains on ensuring a bright future for the players and the WNBA, including collaborating on how we continue to elevate the game. 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.”
Dales, who joined NFL Network in 2009 as a host and reporter, makes regular appearances on shows including, “NFL Now,” “NFL Total Access” and “NFL GameDay Morning.”
Prior to NFL Network, Dales spent seven years as an analyst and reporter for ESPN and ABC, where she covered a variety of sports including college football, men and women’s basketball and the NBA.
Dales was a two-time NCAA First-Team All-American at the University of Oklahoma, where she is the first player in Oklahoma women’s basketball history to record 1,700 points, 600 rebounds and 700 assists.