PHOENIX — When WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert stepped up to present the championship trophy to the Aces on Friday night, the audience responded with a resounding and continuous chorus of boos.

Whatever Engelbert was saying wasn’t audible amid the jeers.

ESPN did its best to blur out the middle fingers fans put up in the background.

Though it’s common for league commissioners to be the target fans’ ire, Friday’s scene could be a defining moment in league history.

The WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association are still in conflict over the collective bargaining agreement, which is due to expire on October 31.

As the league’s popularity rapidly grows, discussions for a new agreement are lagging substantially, making a work stoppage appear almost certain.

Whether that could impact the start of next season remains unclear.

But players have been clear about where they stand.

“When you have great players, you need to treat them like that, and that’s top to bottom,” Aces guard Chelsea Gray said during the media press conference after the game. “We have great players, you need to treat them like that. There’s been a lot of eyes on this league, right? And everybody’s stepping up to the plate and putting on performances that’s legendary. You have legends that you guys get to witness every single day. And so when you have a league full of people like that, it needs to be treated as such.”

2025 Finals MVP A’ja Wilson chimed in, “They’re playing in our faces.”

Gray paused and asked if she wanted to mic, to which Wilson declined and sat back.

Gray continued, “That’s payment, that’s treatment, that’s everything. That’s a bigger conversation. We’ll be here for a long time. But when you have players like that and at the forefront of change. You have to pay them like that, you have to value them like that because there’s no league without the players.”