![\"WNBA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Engelbert-Cunningham.jpg\")
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WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and Sophie Cunningham seem to be butting heads. (Geoff Stellfox\/Rich von Biberstein\/Getty)<\/p>\n
The WNBA<\/a> (Women\u2019s National Basketball Association) commissioner Cathy Engelbert has denounced people trying to \u201csow divisiveness\u201d over the league\u2019s handling of the trans athlete<\/a> debate. This comes after a new interview with Sophie Cunningham<\/a>, in which the Indiana Fever guard questioned Engelbert\u2019s position.\u00a0<\/p>\n Thanks for registering! You can update your email subscriptions at any time in the Commissioner Engelbert has faced a mounting wave of attention that began when Cunningham shared her perspective on trans athletes in July.<\/p>\n Engelbert\u2019s latest comments were voiced on Thursday (20 August), before Indiana Fever lost 91-85 to the Dallas Wings.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are trying to use the league to sow divisiveness,\u201d Engelbert said, as reported by AP News<\/a>, while sitting alongside Dallas Wings CEO Greg Bibb.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re being the centre of political football for people who have never watched the WNBA, never have written about the WNBA or reported on the WNBA,\u201d Engelbert said. Her comments reference NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who recently described the WNBA debate as \u201cpolitical football\u201d.<\/p>\n This is her first time addressing the situation since the league called out \u201cbad faith\u201d efforts<\/a> of two ex-NBA players who declared themselves eligible for the WNBA draft<\/a>. The draft isn\u2019t until next April.<\/p>\n \u2018People are trying to use the league to sow divisiveness\u2019<\/p>\n Cunningham made a swipe at Engelbert in a USA Today profile<\/a> published Wednesday (19 August). This is Engelbert\u2019s seventh year as WNBA commissioner, but her contract expires after the 2026 season.<\/p>\n \u201cYou do have to have a person in power who is bold, who is confident, who wants the best for the players and not maybe for themselves all the time,\u201d Cunningham said of the commissioner position.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I do feel like, as a whole, that could be a position that\u2019s maybe open at the end of the year, but that\u2019s not my call.\u201d<\/p>\n Cunningham noted Engelbert has done \u201ca lot of good things\u201d during her tenure. Though, she emphasises that the league needs a commissioner to support players trying to be \u201ctrailblazers of what women\u2019s leagues can look like.\u201d<\/p>\n Cunningham has taken issue with the potential of trans women playing in the league. Currently, there are no out trans players in the league.<\/p>\n The WNBA\u2019s policy states that \u201conly players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA\u201d. The rule has no explicit language referencing gender identity or sex assigned at birth.\u00a0<\/p>\n The league has a prominent LGBTQ+ fanbase and has historically been associated with strong player activism on social issues.<\/p>\n However, the WNBA has been engulfed by this topic. Demonstrators have been attending games since Cunningham told ESPN<\/a> that banning trans women from women\u2019s sport was \u201ccommon sense.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Things have continued to escalate, with the WNBA even censoring fans\u2019 trans shirts<\/a>. However, the league has since said this \u201cshould not have happened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Cunningham\u2019s statements also prompted responses from high-profile figures. JD Vance voiced his support for Cunningham<\/a> and Caitlyn Jenner<\/a> also weighed in on the controversy. When asked about the topic, Jenner criticised commissioner Cathy Engelbert<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share your thoughts!\u00a0Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and Sophie Cunningham seem to be butting heads. (Geoff Stellfox\/Rich von Biberstein\/Getty) The WNBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,10879,457,82,300988,630,142417],"class_list":["post-866158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sophie-cunningham","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-trans-atheletes","tag-wnba","tag-womens-national-basketball-association-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866158","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=866158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n My profile<\/a> section of your account.\n <\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/cunningham-response.jpg\")
WNBA fans are divided by the trans athlete debate. (David Berding\/Rich von Biberstein\/Getty)<\/p>\n