Being the WNBA’s commissioner may be one of the most unwanted jobs in the world right now. That’s in no small part because Cathy Engelbert, the person who holds that title, makes it look like a rough ride. She has helped usher the league into new financial heights and unprecedented popularity, but her players continue to bash her in the public sphere.
The job is not an easy one, and by many measures Engelbert has done it well, but today I want to talk about what I would do in her shoes. That means starting with how we got here.
For most of the league’s history, the highest executive position was president of the WNBA. Val Ackerman, the first president, was also the longest tenured. From 1996 to 2005, she was integral to getting the WNBA off the ground and created the foundation of the league we have today. She expanded the league to 16 teams, but she also slogged through the first collective bargaining agreement in 1999 and the first mass exodus of ownership in 2003.
By 2019, the league decided it needed a forward-facing figure to take on the role of commissioner. Engelbert was appointed in May 2019 after four years as Deloitte’s CEO. Ten months later, Covid hit, and sports were halted. Engelbert was praised for her leadership when the WNBA became one of the first leagues to successfully pull off a virtual draft and a shortened “bubble” season.
Fast-forward to 2026. Engelbert is in her eighth season, and stakeholders and fans are questioning her leadership and calling for her resignation. After weathering – and then resolving – a contentious 18-month labor battle, she might have thought she was in the clear, but she’s still facing heavy criticism for how her office is handling the firestorm of online abuse, officiating inconsistencies and lack of player relations. It isn’t out of the norm to see an Instagram comment on a schedule graphic blaming Engelbert for multiple games slated for the same time, or to hear a chorus of boos rain down on her during an on-court awards ceremony.
I empathize with Engelbert. It feels almost impossible to make everyone happy. Her main job, from my understanding, is rooted in the league’s bottom line. She has a business background; she works for the owners and investors, not so much the players. During negotiations for the latest CBA, Engelbert was pitted against the players and their union. But she wasn’t alone on her side of the table. There were owners protecting their investments and pushing back on the players’ demands; she spoke for them and the league’s front office as a whole.
Her name gets dragged through the mud because that’s in the job description of a commissioner. You’re the first to get praised (for achievements like helping facilitate the Atlanta Dream’s sale from owner Kelly Loeffler, who showed disdain for the league’s support of the Black Lives Matter movement) and also the first to get blamed (for events like rallies supporting Sophie Cunningham after her comments opposing transgender athletes).
At a press conference last September, Napheesa Collier ripped Engelbert for not having genuine relationships with players and being negligent in her governance of the league. “We have the best players in the world. We have the best fans in the world,” Collier said, “but right now we have the worst leadership in the world.”
If I were commissioner of the WNBA, the first thing I’d do is get rid of any dresses that suggest I’m rooting for a specific team in the finals. Kidding! What I would actually do is hire a co-commissioner to focus on player relations. It feels unrealistic for a single person to manage both the business of the league and athletes’ day-to-day issues. My co-commissioner would hear the players’ concerns, brainstorm real solutions, and create an ongoing dialogue between the players and the league itself. Lisa Leslie would be first on my list to interview. A Black woman for a league that has zero Black female head coaches, who also happens to be a WNBA legend, and someone respected by every era of player, fan and executive.
WNBA great Elena Delle Donne said she never heard from Engelbert after announcing her retirement. Candace Parker said she was congratulated by the NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, after the birth of her third child and received a Christmas gift from him every year, but didn’t hear from Engelbert. A’ja Wilson, four-time MVP and two-time defensive player of the year, says she only hears from Engelbert when she’s handing her an award. This is an issue. If Engelbert were to remain as commissioner, her saving grace would be to hire someone else to work alongside her who can re-engage the league’s most important stakeholders: the players.
And if I were the commissioner, I’d also take a firm stand against the racist, homophobic and transphobic “fans” who have infiltrated the WNBA. I’d remind everyone that the W is, and always has been, a progressive league that fiercely stands for inclusion – bottom line be damned. This, paired with the best women’s basketball athletes in the world, is what makes the WNBA great.
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This is an extract from WNBA 30, where Jordan Robinson covers the biggest stories in the league on and off the court each week. Subscribe for free here.
