WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert to retire in December after transformative and tumultuous tenure

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is retiring at the end the year, bringing to a close her seven-plus years at the helm of the league and a stewardship that has been transformative and at times tumultuous.

Engelbert is the second-longest tenured WNBA president or commissioner, and she helped negotiate a lucrative collective bargaining agreement this past spring that resulted in the league's first set of million-dollar player salaries.

"Cathy has presided over the WNBA through the most significant period of growth in the league's 30-year history," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Friday when announcing Engelbert's decision. "We are grateful for Cathy's leadership and unwavering commitment to the advancement of women's basketball."

Engelbert, who turns 62 in November, told The Associated Press that she has been thinking about retiring for months.

"When I first came to the league I intended to do this for 3 1/2 years," she said in a phone interview. "The 7 1/2 years exceeded that time. This is a really good time given the financial transformation journey we've been on. Getting the collective bargaining agreement done, getting a long-term media rights deal done, getting expansion done."

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Engelbert insists that the decision to leave was solely her own and that she did not feel any pressure to step down from NBA or WNBA stakeholders.

The commissioner said she has been working on a succession plan over the last few years. While she didn't give any specifics on who might be considered for the position, Engelbert did say there are both internal and external potential candidates on the league's radar.

"It's a good time to