Women's Fastbreak On SI

WNBA Players Seemingly React to Cathy Engelbert's Controversial Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese Comments

WNBA players appear to be unhappy with the comments commissioner Cathy Engelbert made on a CNBC show Monday.

Grant Young

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert speaks during the Changemaker Day event at Parsons Leadership Center at Camp South Mountain in Phoenix on July 18, 2024.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert speaks during the Changemaker Day event at Parsons Leadership Center at Camp South Mountain in Phoenix on July 18, 2024. / Diannie Chavez/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

During a September 9 appearance on CNBC's 'Power Lunch' program, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert seemed to sidestep a question about racist undertones that the fan rivalry between rookies Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese can sometimes take on social media.

"Now it seems, on some social media channels, to have taken a darker turn. A more menacing turn," CNBC anchor Tyler Mathisen said to Engelbert about this fan tribalism. "Where race has been introduced in the conversation, where sexuality is sometimes introduced into the conversation.

"How do you try and stay ahead of that... or act as a league when two of your most visible players are involved — not personally, it would seem, but their fanbases are involved — in saying some very uncharitable things about the other?" he then added.

"Well the one thing that's great about the league right now, we do sit at this intersection of culture, and sports, and fashion, and music. Like, the WNBA players are really looked at now as kind of cultural icons," Engelbert said in response.

"And when you have that, you have a lot of attention on you. There's no more apathy. Everybody cares. It is a little bit of that Bird-Magic moment if you recall, from 1979," Engelbert added. "When those two rookies came in from a big college rivalry, one white, one black. And so we have that moment with these two.

"But the one thing I know about sports, you need rivalry," Engelbert added. "That's what makes people watch, They want to watch games of consequence between rivals. They don't want everybody being nice to one another," Engelbert then said.

Engelbert appearing to dodge Mathisen's question has the women's basketball community in a collective uproar on Tuesday. Not only are many fans lamenting Engelbert's response on X, but it appears that some WNBA players are also taking umbrage with it.

While it can't be confirmed that Engelbert's comments are what she's referring to, Aces player Alysha Clark posted on X, "Sweet. Baby. Jesus." with a GIF of a baffled-looking John C. Reilly.

Chicago Sky guard Michaela Onyenwere also posted, "Yikes. 🥴," in an apparent reference to her commissioner's comments.

Onyenwere's Sky teammate Brianna Turner then posted, "My eye must be deceiving me 😅 bc ain’t no way 👀," on X.

It's worth re-stating that none of these posts are confirmed to be about what Engelbert said. But fans and X users seem to think so; especially given their timing with Engelbert's words going viral.

Perhaps the WNBA commissioner's office will address this alleged backlash later today.

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Grant Young

GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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