WNBA commissioner plays gender card when asked about future

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WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has been under the spotlight for about a year as she navigated the league through a stressful collective bargaining agreement before the start of the 2026 season.

Engelbert addressed the media Monday night as the WNBA Draft was set to take place. She raised eyebrows among reporters and fans on social media with a response to a tough question she received.

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WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert speaks at the WNBA basketball draft in New York on April 13, 2026. (Pamela Smith/AP)

She was asked about her future as commissioner and responded by playing the gender card.

"I do crack up how everybody's focused on me, and you should be focused on the hundreds of amazing women and thousands of women who run this league outside of myself," she said, via USA Today. "I appreciate that you're focused on me as well. I wonder if you would ask that of a man, by the way, but I realize as women we get asked different questions than men do."

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WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert speaks before the WNBA basketball draft in New York on April 13, 2026. (Pamela Smith/AP)

Some social media users, including columnist Jemele Hill, agreed that she would have gotten the same question if she were a man.

Engelbert is in an exclusive club of female commissioners of professional sports. Jessica Berman is the commissioner of the National Women’s Soccer League. Meanwhile, commissioners in