{"id":843981,"date":"2026-09-11T10:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T10:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/843981\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T10:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T10:02:12","slug":"sabrina-ionescu-reflects-on-wnba-cba-cathy-engelbert-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/843981\/","title":{"rendered":"Sabrina Ionescu Reflects on WNBA CBA, Cathy Engelbert Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhen asked about the biggest difference under the WNBA<\/a>\u2018s new CBA<\/a> this season, Sabrina Ionescu<\/a> has an easy answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou\u2019re talking about how much we get paid?\u201d Ionescu told Sportico reporter Sara Germano at Sportico\u2019s RISE event Thursday in Manhattan, N.Y.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEverything that came with the new CBA<\/a> impacts everyone in the league,\u201d Ionescu said, \u201cwhether you\u2019re a rookie coming in or you\u2019re somebody who\u2019s looking at retirement or what life looks like after basketball, and it benefits the people who are in between who have been in this league for a little while. I wouldn\u2019t say one is more important than the other. We fought for absolutely every single thing that we got on there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe next order of business for the WNBA is replacing commissioner Cathy Engelbert<\/a>, who announced Friday<\/a> she will be stepping down from her role at the end of the year. Engelbert, formerly an executive at Deloitte, was named the league\u2019s first commissioner in 2019 and presided over a period of explosive growth for the W.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re super thankful for the years that she\u2019s been a part of this league,\u201d Ionescu said. \u201cFrom where she\u2019s started until where we are now, we\u2019ve continued to build together. Super thankful for everything she\u2019s done, and obviously for us as players, we appreciate that she\u2019s continued to advocate for a new CBA, a transformational CBA.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThinking ahead to the next commissioner, Ionescu feels confident the league will do its due diligence to find the next person who can keep the league on its current upward trajectory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAs players, we want to continue to build a really good relationship with our commissioner, so that\u2019s definitely a priority\u2014somebody who puts the players first, puts the league first,\u201d Ionescu said.<\/p>\n

\n\tIonescu\u2019s New York Liberty are currently sixth in the WNBA standings, with the league on a break for the FIBA Women\u2019s Basketball World Cup. The star guard emphasizes how the team is eyeing another championship after winning it all in 2024.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd she answers the crucial question of whether she\u2019ll be a Liberty lifer: \u201cYes, of course!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSportico\u2019s event was sponsored by the WNBPA, Next League, Genius Sports Cocolab, Teleties, Swoon and GoWipe. Find upcoming Sportico events near you.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When asked about the biggest difference under the WNBA\u2018s new CBA this season, Sabrina Ionescu has an easy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[18116,12548,3675,357260,99,434],"class_list":["post-843981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-cathy-engelbert","tag-cba","tag-sabrina-ionescu","tag-sportico-rise","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}