The process to find WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s replacement “will start later this month, if not sooner,” according to sources cited by Philippou & Voepel of ESPN.com. Presumably, the hire “will be made by and report to” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, as was the case with Engelbert. It is unclear who else might have input on the decision, though the BOG is “expected to be involved.” Prior to hiring Engelbert in 2019, the players’ union also requested and was granted the opportunity to meet with the league’s final candidates. A source said that the league is approaching the process “with an open mind — recognizing that the WNBA is now at a point where a leader without a traditional background in the corporate world might offer advantages.” Building and managing relationships with players, as well as owners, execs and business leaders, is also “seen as a priority following Engelbert’s tenure,” which notably included “several strained relationships with key players.” Since Engelbert’s announcement Friday, people around the league have speculated about who might be part of the candidate pool. ESPN noted several names mentioned as possibilities: Basketball HOFer Swin Cash, Liberty CEO Keia Clarke, WNBA Head of League Operations Bethany Donaphin, Nike VP/GM Global Running Tanya Hvizdak, Sparks F and WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike, Valkyries President Jess Smith and NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum (ESPN.com, 9/8).
BEST FIT FOR THE JOB: In Boston, Tara Sullivan writes moving forward, it will be “fascinating to see what the WNBA values in finding the next commissioner.” Another “business-heavy résumé that lands squarely behind Silver and the NBA in the pecking order of autonomy? Or might Silver and Co. seek out more of a basketball insider, someone with league history,” a la former player/front office veteran Cash or Donaphin? Sullivan: “The time feels right for a strong personality to be in charge, someone willing to stand ground on the important issues of inclusivity, social justice, and advocacy that formed the bedrock of the league since its inception 30 years ago, but at the same time, for a person who can continue to oversee enough growth in revenue that the necessary financial ties to the NBA grow looser and looser” (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/9).
GROWING PAINS: THE ATHLETIC’s Jerry Brewer writes despite all the “drama and grievances about her management style, Engelbert did not fail the players.” She “never caught up to them, however. That is the unfortunate part of a tenure full of expansion, media-rights billions and two transformational collective bargaining agreements.” And that reality is something her successor “must reckon with as soon as the hire is made.” The new commissioner’s priority will be to “command the business and earn the respect of a labor force that now fully understands its power and expects a leader who can meet it where it has risen” (THE ATHLETIC, 9/9).