In mid-September, as Paige Bueckers took the runway for The Jennifer Hudson Show, the Dallas Wings star showed off some moves while making her way down a tunnel as staff sang her name, clapped and danced in unison. Toward the end of it stood Cathy Engelbert.
I bet Im the last person you thought youd see on this cool spirit tunnel, the WNBA commissioner told a surprised Bueckers as Engelbert handed her the leagues Rookie of the Year award. Before Bueckers continued down the hall to make an appearance on the daytime talk show, she and Engelbert hugged.
A couple of weeks later, WNBA players and coaches have not embraced Engelbert as much and they have been vocal about their discontent.
Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier called out Engelbert and the league office Tuesday, saying the WNBA has the worst leadership in the world. She read a two-page prepared statement two days after the Phoenix Mercury eliminated the Lynx in Game 4 of the semifinals.
Collier aired private conversations she said she had with Engelbert regarding why prominent young players such as the Indiana Fevers Caitlin Clark, Chicago Skys Angel Reese and Bueckers earned so little for their first four years, even though theyre driving massive revenue for the league.
Her response was, Caitlin should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court because without the platform that the WNBA gives her, she wouldnt make anything, Collier said Engelbert told her. And in that same conversation, she told me, Players should be on their knees, thanking their lucky stars for the (11-year, $2.2 billion) media rights deal that I got them.
In response to Colliers comments, Engelbert said in part she was disheartened by how Napheesa characterized our conversations.
Collier went on to blast Engelbert, the leagues approach to the ongoing collective bargaining agreement negotiations and the games officiating.
Her coach, Cheryl Reeve, received a Game 4 suspension and $15,000 fine for charging onto the court late in Game 3 and criticizing the officiating after Collier suffered an ankle injury, a source with knowledge of the fine told The Athletic. Collier missed the final game.
So if this is what our league wants, then OK, but I want to call for a change in leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating, said Reeve, who has been Minnesotas coach for 16 seasons. Its bad for the game.
Two other coaches the Fevers Stephanie White and the Las Vegas Aces Becky Hammon supported the leagues longest-tenured coach. And they, too, were fined, $1,000 each, according to the source.
Our leaderships ability to being held accountable is to suppress everyones voices by handing out fines, said Collier, the Womens National Basketball Players Association vice president. Im not concerned about a fine. Im concerned about the future of our sport.
Engelbert is in her seventh year as commissioner. The big question is whether the 60-year-old will remain in her position after the current CBA negotiations. The CBA expires on Oct. 31.
The league has grown exponentially under her watch, with record ratings and attendance, a major media rights deal and expansion, but there have also been controversies and player complaints. Heres a timeline of some notable moments during Engelberts tenure.
July 17, 2019: Engelbert is hired as the WNBAs first commissioner nearly two months into a regular season in which the league expected to lose $12 million. She came from Deloitte, where she spent 33 years, including the previous four as CEO. The league, which began play in 1997, had not made a profit to this point, and the Players Association was discussing issues related to compensation, travel and marketing, as it planned to opt out of the CBA at the end of the season.
Jan. 14, 2020: The league and WNBPA announce a WNBA player marketing agreement designed to keep star players in the U.S. during the offseason to promote the league year-round, instead of playing overseas. Top players are eligible to earn up to $250,000 in league marketing deals.
Jan. 17, 2020: The CBA was signed two months before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, saving the Wubble season, and the average cash compensation for players exceeded six figures for the first time. Six months later, the regular season began, with games being held at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where the Seattle Storm won the title in October.
Aug. 4, 2020: When Atlanta Dream players and others wore T-shirts endorsing the Democratic opponent of Dream co-owner Kelly Loeffler, Engelbert initially said Loeffler would not be forced to sell her stake. Loeffler, a Republican Georgia senator, criticized the Black Lives Matter movement earlier in the summer. Her opponent, Raphael Warnock, won the January 2021 runoff contest, and a month later, Loeffler and her co-owner sold the Dream.
Aug. 26, 2020: Engelbert supported the leagues postponement of three games as part of a protest after police shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the back seven times in Kenosha, Wis. We are running a very player-first agenda, she told ESPN.
Feb. 3, 2022: The WNBA announced a $75 million capital raise, the largest amount in a single investment round for a womens sports league. Engelbert said the money would be used for player marketing, fan engagement, brand elevation, human capital and consumer touchpoints. The group of investors included WNBA and NBA owners, as well as Nike, Michael Dell and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
July 10, 2022: Kelsey Plum was named the WNBA All-Star Game MVP after scoring 30 points to tie a then-All-Star record, leading Team Wilsons win over Team Stewart. But it was the tiny trophy Engelbert handed her afterward that players and fans mocked. The following year, the trophy grew in size.
Oct. 5, 2023: The league announced that the San Francisco Bay Area would be home to its 13th franchise, its first expansion team in 15 years. Seven months later, the team owned by the Warriors Joe Jacob and Peter Guber would be named the Golden State Valkyries. They began play this season, becoming the first expansion team to reach the playoffs in its first season.
May 16, 2024: Two days after the season tipped off, the WNBA said teams across the league would start using charter flights to travel for every game with a few planned exceptions. Players had called for private air travel for years, and with the league committing $25 million per year for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, they no longer had to deal with long security lines and frequent coach travel, which isnt ideal for tall athletes.
May 23, 2024: Canada got the first WNBA franchise outside the U.S., as Toronto will be the leagues 14th team. Womens sports has arrived, declared Toronto billionaire Larry Tanenbaum, whose Tempo will start competing in 2026. The team also plans to host games in Vancouver and Montreal.
July 24, 2024: The league announced a landmark 11-year media rights deal, worth an average of $200 million a year, with Disney, NBC and Amazon Prime. The package will broadcast more than 100 regular-season games each year. Engelbert said these agreements allow the league to continue to build a long-term and sustainable growth model for the future of womens basketball and sports, which will benefit WNBA players, teams and fans.
Sept. 9, 2024: Engelbert took heat for comparing the Clark-Reese rivalry to that of the Boston Celtics Larry Bird and Los Angeles Lakers Magic Johnson during CNBCs Power Lunch. She said: It is a little of that Bird-Magic moment, if you recall from 1979, when those two rookies came in from a big college rivalry, one White, one Black. And so we have that moment with these two. WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson said Engelberts response was a missed opportunity because there is absolutely no place in sport or in life for the vile hate, racist language, homophobic comments and the misogynistic attacks our players are facing on social media.
Sept. 13, 2024: After the CNBC interview, Engelbert apologizes to players for not addressing the abusive rhetoric they sometimes face. In a letter obtained by ESPN, Engelbert wrote to players that she was asked a question about rivalries and the dark side of social media and race. My answer missed the mark and Im sorry. I regret that I didnt express, in a clear and definitive way, condemnation of the hateful speech that is all too often directed at WNBA players on social media.
Sept. 18, 2024: The WNBA awarded Portland a franchise, 22 years after the Fire folded. Engelbert called it the latest milestone in Portlands rich history of iconic basketball moments. The team, which is owned by Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal, owners of the National Womens Soccer Leagues Portland Thorns, is the WNBAs 15th and will begin play in 2026.
Oct. 10, 2024: Engelbert announced that the league will extend the 2025 regular season from 40 games to 44 and its finals will move from a best-of-five series to a best-of-seven.
June 30, 2025: The WNBA announced that Philadelphia, Detroit and Cleveland are getting franchises, putting the league at 18 teams by 2030. Engelbert left the door open for Houston to get a team again, saying the city would be up next, for sure. The Houston Comets, who won the leagues first four championships, disbanded in 2008 after the teams owner couldnt find a buyer.
July 1, 2025: Clark criticized the pay structure comparing what a team earned for winning the Commissioners Cup to the Finals. You get more (money) for this than you do if youre the (finals) champion, the guard said during a teammates locker room Instagram livestream after the Fever beat the Lynx to claim the Commissioners Cup and the $500,000 purse that is split among the winning squads players. Someone tell Cathy to help us out.
Sept. 30, 2025: After Collier slammed Engleberts leadership, the commissioner released a statement. 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.
(Top photo: Wendell Cruz / Imagn Images)
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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