Sophie Cunningham has two conditions for the WNBA’s next commissioner originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
After Team USA’s successful defense of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup title, focus now is squarely back on the WNBA, which resumes with five games Thursday night.
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From then, it is a four-game sprint to the end of the regular season before the playoffs — and there’s little drama left, as the eight postseason participants already have been confirmed.
This season’s WNBA champion will receive the trophy from Cathy Engelbert in what will be one of the 62-year-old’s final acts as commissioner. Engelbert is retiring at year’s end, and the search to find her replacement no doubt will be fascinating to see unfold.
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Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham doesn’t want to be commissioner, but she sure has an opinion on what Engelbert’s successor should prioritize upon taking over in 2027.
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“The WNBA has always been a place for people to feel safe and comfortable,” Cunningham said Monday from Fever practice. “I think there are all types of walks in this league, which I think is absolutely awesome. But I think with that, you need someone who is going to unite everybody, because it can be so different.”
The WNBA long has been considered a diverse and inclusive league. Earlier this summer, Cunningham commented to ESPN in a feature story that she wanted to “protect biological women” in sports — comments that served as a dog-whistle for former NBA players Royce White and Enes Kanter Freedom to declare themselves as women “for the purposes of playing basketball.”
The two men are challenging the WNBA’s stance on transgender athletes, and the controversy began with Cunningham’s remarks.
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“With all the diversity, you need someone who’s going to unite our league and have a common goal,” she said.
Cunningham also said that she wanted a “players-first” commissioner, which has become an important distinction after tense collective bargaining negotiations dominated the last offseason.
The WNBPA won historic gains in the new CBA, but the talks damaged the players’ relationship with Engelbert, which never was particularly close anyway.
Engelbert, who worked on behalf of the league’s owners, was criticized for a perceived inability to build relationships with the players, and Cunningham wants her replacement to show more “respect.”
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“If you have that open line of communication, that respect level, I think that it just feels different,” Cunningham said.
