When Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve took the podium postgame in Phoenix on Sept. 26, she may well have changed WNBA history with a profane, direct barb at league leadership over officiating.
The fallout, which included an even sharper statement from her star player Napheesa Collier aimed squarely at the commissioner, has been startling to see.
The WNBA Finals have still been entertaining and close, bringing in attention to the on-court product despite the labor strife off it. However, the league’s award announcement schedule has been completely derailed by the war of words between Reeve, Collier and commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
The league forecasted that it would announce the final crop of league-wide awards starting last Tuesday with the All-Defense team, followed by the All-WNBA teams leading up to Game 3 of the Finals this Wednesday.
WNBA Unveils Announcement Schedule For Official 2025 End-Of-Season Awards pic.twitter.com/gEuHqYIFxk
— WNBA Communications (@WNBAComms) September 12, 2025
The announcement conspicuously contained a note that the schedule was subject to change.
After Reeve called out the WNBA and Minnesota lost the series in Game 4 without Collier, the announcements stopped coming in. A week has passed since the All-Defense teams were due to come out, but no league awards have been announced since Sept. 29, when the All-Rookie team was released.
While a pause is understandable given the suddenly frosty relations between Engelbert and the players, one could argue this decision is exacerbating the problem. Even in a world in which a top men’s sports star confronted the commissioner publicly in a similar manner, it would be hard to imagine the league halting awards announcements as a result.
If anything, the WNBA handling the unrelated awards schedule so stubbornly serves as evidence of its frequent lack of organization and sensitivities to public perception. Moving forward with business as usual could serve as a distraction, much as the WNBA Finals games this past weekend distracted from the tensions atop the league.
It is another own goal for the WNBA, which suddenly looks miles from labor peace or any kind of forward momentum.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.