{"id":807843,"date":"2026-07-17T12:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T12:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/807843\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T12:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T12:48:10","slug":"caitlin-clark-is-being-failed-by-wnba-and-its-time-for-a-new-commissioner-to-rescue-womens-basketball-savior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/807843\/","title":{"rendered":"Caitlin Clark is being failed by WNBA and it’s time for a new commissioner to rescue women’s basketball savior"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cathy Engelbert is failing Caitlin Clark.<\/p>\n

Engelbert is also failing to properly promote and govern women’s basketball, which means that it’s time for the WNBA<\/a> to find a new commissioner.<\/p>\n

\"It<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

It can be hard to enjoy a WNBA game because of constant referee problemsCredit: getty<\/p>\n

“I have come to know Caitlin really well,” NBA<\/a> commissioner Adam Silver said at the Game Plan Summit.<\/p>\n

“She’s an incredible player and also an incredible person. And she wants to focus on being the best player she can. She has become a bit of a political football in this country, and I think it’s incredibly unfair to her.”<\/p>\n

Let’s just get this out of the way right now, before we go any further. <\/p>\n

When the commissioner of the NBA is spending his time publicly taking up for the biggest name in the WNBA, women’s basketball has a serious problem<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE ON WNBA<\/p>\n

Which means that Engelbert has an even bigger problem, and it’s hard to see how the WNBA advances without finding a new commissioner.<\/p>\n

Video after video showed Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas pushing her fist into Clark’s throat while the Indiana Fever<\/a> guard was on the ground.<\/p>\n

But it took Silver stepping up for the WNBA to even suspend Thomas for a single game, according to the Sports Business Journal<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The drama, politics and social media fury surrounding Clark has become so thick that it’s now hard to separate truth from fiction.<\/p>\n

That’s another serious problem for the WNBA, which has failed to capitalize<\/a> on the most popular player in league history.<\/p>\n

There is the WNBA before Clark and after.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

The WNBA is failing Caitlin Clark and it’s time for a new commissionerCredit: getty\"Clark<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Clark drew sympathy from NBA commissioner Adam SilverCredit: getty<\/p>\n

But at this moment in WNBA history, the one thing that is almost universally agreed upon is that in-game officiating has become a daily joke — especially when Clark is on the hardwood. <\/p>\n

Cue the intrusion of Silver, who’s been forced to take over in a ‘Godfather’ role and effectively tell Engelbert to clean up the WNBA’s mounting mess.<\/p>\n

“I don’t even think it’s fair to her (Clark) that this has become a separate storyline about one foul,” Silver said.<\/p>\n

He added: “Do we need to improve WNBA officiating? No doubt about it.”<\/p>\n

The NBA never did this to Michael Jordan<\/a>, Kobe Bryant<\/a> or LeBron James<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Major League Baseball wouldn’t allow pitchers to continually throw at Shohei Ohtani<\/a> in the box — or allow batters to charge the mound and attack MLB<\/a>‘s biggest international name.<\/p>\n

Christian Pulisic<\/a> ended up as a let down during the 2026 World Cup<\/a>. But he was promoted and re-promoted by USMNT, US Soccer and FOX Sports throughout a summer run that changed the future<\/a> of a rising sport in the USA.<\/p>\n

But Clark has been a lightning rod in the WNBA from day one, even though she’s a 6ft and 157lb shooting guard who specializes in draining 3-pointers far away from the basket. <\/p>\n

TV ratings, ticket sales and merchandise purchases have significantly increased in the WNBA since Clark entered the league — Angel Reese<\/a> never could have done that by herself. <\/p>\n

But everything from race and politics to jealously and old-school WNBA bias have played factors in the love-her or hate-her Clark divide.<\/p>\n

Thomas has also seen the flip side of the hate, after receiving death threats<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe vitriol and everything that our players receive … is unacceptable,\u201d Engelbert said. \u201cBut there\u2019s so much good in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, this is on Engelbert’s inability to govern and promote the WNBA at an elite level after Clark became the No. 1 overall pick of the 2024 draft.<\/p>\n

\"DALLAS,<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Reese taunted Clark in the 2023 NCAA national championship gameCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

She was supposed to change the league, become a unifying superstar and lift women’s basketball to a new level across the globe.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, Reese vs Clark was the hottest new rivalry<\/a> in American sports. <\/p>\n

Clark is averaging career highs in points (19.7) and field-goal percentage (42.1) this season, and already has two All-Star selections to go with a Rookie of the Year award and All-WNBA honors.<\/p>\n

She’s doing her part. <\/p>\n

Read More on talkSPORT<\/p>\n

But when the rest of the sports world constantly hears about poor officiating in women’s basketball and a clenched fist to Clark’s throat, the WNBA is going backward in 2026.<\/p>\n

Silver being forced to fix the WNBA’s problems is proof that Engelbert isn’t doing the job right. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cathy Engelbert is failing Caitlin Clark. Engelbert is also failing to properly promote and govern women’s basketball, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[23867,4652,724,461,29909,49,735,283694,283695,48,11628,283697,122351,283700,24558,36805,2803,35474,2327,3004,462,459,26648,3461,482,82,183,129571,283698,630,4458,283701,31508,283699,283696,4143,4501],"class_list":["post-807843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-adam-silver","tag-alyssa-thomas","tag-angel-reese","tag-basketball","tag-basketball-news","tag-ca","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-caitlin-clark-and-referees","tag-caitlin-clark-wnba-controversy","tag-canada","tag-cathy-engelbert","tag-cathy-engelbert-wnba-future","tag-christian-pulisic","tag-clark-wnba","tag-fox-news","tag-fox-sports","tag-indiana-fever","tag-kobe-bryant","tag-lebron-james","tag-michael-jordan","tag-mlb","tag-nba","tag-nba-news","tag-phoenix-mercury","tag-shohei-ohtani","tag-sports","tag-usa","tag-usmnt","tag-what-is-wrong-with-the-wnba","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-all-star","tag-wnba-comissioner","tag-wnba-controversy","tag-wnba-doesnt-protect-caitlin-clark","tag-wnba-investigation","tag-womens-sports","tag-womens-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}