Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham has suggested the WNBA may need new leadership.
As reported by USA TODAY Sports, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s position could be “open at the end of the year” as the league navigates intense debate over transgender athlete participation.
Cunningham said: “You do have to have a person who is bold, who is confident, who wants the best for the players and not maybe for themselves all the time. (Engelbert’s) done a lot of good things, but with where our league is trying to go, I feel like you just want someone who also wants that.”
Her comments follow Cunningham being continuously booed wherever she goes since she made those comments in July to ESPN on how she will protect “young girls in a locker room” and how she is against transgender athletes playing in the women’s game. On Tuesday night, in Toronto, she made three out of three three-point shots, allowing her team to win 101-95.
“I want to shout out the Tempo crowd and the city,” Cunningham said afterwards.
This issue has been leading to demonstrations and counter-demonstrations in Fever games around the country. In one of the recent Atlanta games, people who wore “XX-XY Athletics” shirts, which were a brand that supported women’s sports protection, were allegedly told by league security to cover up. The WNBA has since apologised for this incident.
2026-08-20 00:20:00
