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WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has become the league’s most polarizing figure over the past few months.
Several in the WNBA media and fans reacted on social media after roaring cheers for the 2025 champion Las Vegas Aces switched to boos directed toward Engelbert at the WNBA Finals at Mortgage Matchup Center on Oct. 10. The Aces closed out the Finals over the Phoenix Mercury in a four-game sweep.
Engelbert presented the 2025 championship and Finals MVP trophies to the Aces and A’ja Wilson, after they beat the Mercury, 97-86.
Wilson mockingly scratched her neck and turned her head as she heard the boos.
ESPN’s production crew used grey censors to blur out middle fingers in the crowd aimed at Engelbert that could be seen on camera during the postgame ceremony.
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Reaction was quick on social media.
The Aces’ Chelsea Gray didn’t hold back when she was asked during the postgame press conference about the players’ value and Engelbert handling the current collective bargaining agreement negotiations. The deadline to finalize the new CBA is Oct. 31 to avoid a potential lockout entering the 2026 season.
“When you have great players you need to treat them like that. And that’s top to bottom,” Gray said.
The ebullient Wilson reacted to Gray with money hand gesture and shook a pink tambourine, which drew laughs from the media, and said about Engelbert, “Don’t play in our faces.”
Gray added, “That’s payment. That’s treatment. That’s revenue share. That’s everything. … 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.”
The four-time MVP Wilson recently backed Minnesota Lynx’s All-Star and WNBA player’s union vice president Napheesa Collier, who on Sept. 30 said the league has “the worst leadership in the world.”
WNBA players want higher salaries from a 50/50 revenue share compared to their current 9.3% built into the salary cap. The league has landed several billons of dollars in new media rights deals since July 2024, and the league is expanding from 13 to 18 teams by 2030.
“No WNBA leader has had more financial growth of the league during her tenure than Cathy Engelbert,” ESPN’s longtime women’s basketball writer Michael Voepel said. “The league has gotten charter flights, the first franchise expansion in 17 years (with more to come) and far greater sponsorship investment. She doesn’t deserve such rancor.”
