On a day where the whole of the women’s basketball universe is fixated on Berlin and the start of the FIBA World Cup, a bombshell was dropped back stateside.
There are a plethora of WNBA players currently in Germany playing for their respective national teams at the FIBA World Cup. Those W players will be returning to a WNBA that is about to undergo a noticeable change.
Cathy Engelbert has been the first-ever commissioner of the WNBA since 2019 when she took over for Lisa Borders who previously served when the W’s top job was referred to as “league president.” Today, it was revealed that Engelbert, at 62 years of age, would be stepping down from her post as WNBA commissioner at the conclusion of the calendar year.
This means that her tenure as commissioner will span seven years. This also means that when she gives her State of the WNBA address at this year’s WNBA Finals, it will be the final presser for Engelbert as WNBA commissioner.
Throughout this year there has been a wealth of speculation about Engelbert’s future past this season, but a moment where it appeared the writing was on the wall may have been at this year’s All-Star weekend in Chicago.
At Engelbert’s press conference there, she was asked a question by Annie Costabile at The Athletic regarding retirement rumors – which were also rampant heading into that weekend. Engelbert, in textbook public relations fashion, sidestepped that query from Costabile. In many ways, Engelbert was confirming that the rumors were true without saying the rumors were true.
When one looks at where the WNBA was when Engelbert took over and where it is currently, there is no question that the W is in a vastly different place than when Engelbert assumed the reins from Borders. One point that is consistently brought up is how many individuals were actually working at the league’s New York City office then as opposed to now.
Even though it was in 2019 when Engelbert took over, we all know what happened the following year.
The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 provided a Herculean test for Engelbert and the W – and by relocating the entirety of the league to central Florida for a season enclosed in a bubble, it ensured that there was a 2020 season.
One also cannot discuss Engelbert’s legacy without discussing the wealth of new money and sponsorships that have flowed into the WNBA’s direction over the last seven years. Engelbert is a businesswoman at the end of the day and the WNBA needed someone with strong corporate connections to convince companies that would not even touch the W previously to give women’s sports a try.
Notice how when one sees an advertisement during a WNBA or NBA telecast that mentions “official _______ of the WNBA and NBA” or “official _________ of the NBA and WNBA.” Franchise valuations skyrocketed under Engelbert. Her connections with the business community played a massive role in growing the W from a corporate perspective. Chartered flights and supermax contracts also became realities during the Engelbert era.
Perhaps, the biggest legacy Engelbert will leave is how she oversaw the growth of the WNBA in terms of franchises. She said herself that getting the WNBA to an 18-team league was an objective of hers. That objective will come to fruition when the WNBA adds the Cleveland Sirens in 2028 along with additional franchises in Detroit (2029) and Philadelphia (2030) to join the current 15 teams within the league’s ranks.
In fact, the most recent three franchises – the Golden State Valkyries, the relaunched Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo – all were added to the W under Engelbert’s watch. And expanding the WNBA’s reach into Canada was a pure legacy play for Engelbert.
Another reality that many wanted to see happen – also did under Engelbert as the Finals would become a best-of-seven. The WNBA also recently debuted a new logo for the Finals. One of Engelbert’s final achievements as commissioner would be the debut of a new state-of-the-art replay center that will go into effect for the 2027 season.
Engelbert certainly decided to approach her tenure as commissioner from a businesswoman’s perspective being a former executive of Big Four accounting firm Deloitte. But, ask many a fan – or even a player – and one can say that, perhaps, she was too much “Commissioner Engelbert” and not enough “Cathy.”
A common criticism many fans and players have had of Engelbert is while she may be excellent at being able to break down dollars and sense, she was not the best at being able to connect with players at a human level. Engelbert would, metaphorically, show up to the Zoom meeting but bail on the girls’ trip to Cancún.
She presided over the WNBA when the Caitlin Clark phenomenon was making its way into the W. And while a wealth of new eyes – and new money – would follow Clark into the W, it also came with a wealth of racism.
It was not only how WNBA players had to deal with all this newfound racism, misogyny, harassment, homophobia and transphobia – none of which is Clark’s fault, by the way. It was how the WNBA of Engelbert appeared to move at a snail’s pace to combat this. Would this have been the case if Borders – a Black woman – still had that job instead of Engelbert? We can only speculate.
Let us also not forget a few questionable comments Engelbert has made in interviews. Once when speaking with People Magazine, she was asked about why players play overseas. This was while the WNBA was dealing with Brittney Griner’s imprisonment in Russia. She said that players do so because of how much they love the sport but it is obvious to anyone that players go overseas because overseas teams offered more money than WNBA franchises.
A big story of the 2024 season was the discourse surrounding Clark and Angel Reese and how much of it was clearly racism. Engelbert was asked in an interview with CNBC about the Clark-Reese discourse and she mentioned that it was a byproduct of how rivalries are needed in the WNBA. She also compared it – as many have – to the rivalry that the Los Angeles Lakers’ Magic Johnson and the Boston Celtics’ Larry Bird had in the 1980s which was a major catalyst for the NBA’s growth.
That was answered with major social media backlash from many a WNBA player – and it led Engelbert to have to do damage control afterwards.
We mentioned how Engelbert presided over so much expansion throughout her tenure. Ask women’s basketball aficionados in one locale and her legacy is already set – and not in the most positive of ways.
New England WNBA fans have been some of the most passionate there are – but, following this season, said fans are losing their team. The Connecticut Sun first joined the WNBA’s ranks in 2003 after relocating from Orlando. The 2026 WNBA season will be the final season for the Sun in Connecticut before being moved to Houston to become the relaunched Comets.
What will be mentioned when discussing Engelbert’s legacy is not only the Sun leaving Connecticut for Houston, but the process in how it all, reportedly, came together. There were bidders that were looking to keep the team in New England by relocation to either Boston or Hartford. Except, Boston’s hopes were supposedly doomed because it did not apply for an expansion franchise.
Engelbert’s legacy in New England may be similar to how the late David Stern is seen in Seattle. After all, the Seattle Sonics moved to Oklahoma City to become the Thunder under Stern’s watch in what was one of the most controversial team relocations in sports history. The return of the Comets – the WNBA’s original dynasty – is another positive in Engelbert’s tenure, but it coming at the expense of the Sun gives it a bit less of a glow.
And while the return of the Sonics appears imminent (likely by the end of the decade), who knows when New England will have another opportunity at WNBA basketball. Reports have indicated that 2031 could be the earliest season that a Boston team may join the league, but a lot can happen in five years that may affect those plans.
Even the fact that she wore a dress adorned in the Manhattan skyline at Game 5 of the 2024 Finals between the Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty was looked at by many fans as a swing and a miss on Engelbert’s part. Let us also remember when she was aired out by Napheesa Collier following last year’s semifinals between the Lynx and Phoenix Mercury for comments she allegedly made about people who complain about referees. Let us also remember at the conclusion of last season when Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase was awarded Coach of the Year and she mispronounced the name of the Valks coach.
Of course, when one commissioner takes a curtain call, the chat lights up with ideas as to who it would like to succeed said commissioner. The final say will be with the NBA’s top boss – commissioner Adam Silver.
The last two heads of state for the W should give Silver a perfect blueprint for what to look for as Engelbert’s successor. The WNBA needs someone who has the strong business acumen of an Engelbert with the people skills of someone like a Borders.
One strong element of the Borders tenure was how the WNBA leaned unapologetically hard into its progressive identity during said tenure. That was de-emphasized in a lot of ways during the Engelbert era because the WNBA was attempting to cater to a more suburban crowd. The W needs someone who leans back into its Borders-era identity while understanding the crystal clear reality of today’s league that it is a smart business investment.
It is easy to dunk on sports commissioners considering that they are effectively spokespeople for the owners at the end of the day. A great deal of the rakes that Engelbert stepped on made her unpopular with the WNBA fandom and caused her to get booed lustily when she would appear at marquee events such as All-Star Games and WNBA Finals.
While we all want whoever succeeds Engelbert to build on her successes and learn from her missteps, what we do not want is someone who does the opposite. WNBA fans should also approach this development with plenty of caution by watching out for the possibility that whoever succeeds Engelbert may get more of her cues from Silver than even Engelbert did.
After all, it is very easy to want a commissioner to step down from the job, it is not so easy to fill that role – and assume that the popular choice of many fans even desires said role.
All in all, the last seven years gave us plenty of highs and plenty of lows. If one word could be used to describe Engelbert’s legacy, it may be “checkered.” Were there plenty of clear-path blown layups? Yes. But there were also plenty of logo 3-pointers – both literally and figuratively.
We already knew the 2027 WNBA season would have plenty of storylines – including the new replay center, the return of the Comets and a new crop of young stars entering the league led by JuJu Watkins. The 2027 draft could be the deepest since that 2024 version that included Clark and Reese.
Now we know a new head of the league will join that exclusive WNBA sorority that includes Engelbert, Borders, Laurel Richie, Donna Orender and Val Ackerman. Engelbert actually had the second-longest tenure of any of the WNBA’s five chief executives. Ackerman served eight seasons – as will Engelbert.
Orender had the W’s top job for six seasons and Richie for five. Borders had the shortest tenure of any WNBA chief executive as she was only league president for three years.
The WNBA’s league presidency/commissionership will soon be bestowed upon a sixth woman who will assume the role as the starting point guard for the continued growth of this exceptional league.
