WNBA Commissioner Issues Response After Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese Statement Goes Viral

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert made headlines when asked about some of the discourse surrounding Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese.

In a segment of CNBC's "Power Lunch" uploaded to the network's YouTube page on September 9, Engelbert was asked by co-anchor Tyler Mathisen about the "darker turn" the conversation surrounding Clark and Reese has taken.

"A rivalry that goes back to their college days, presumably," Mathisen said of Clark and Reese. "Where I guess some trash talking entered in. But now it seems on some social media channels to have taken a darker turn, a more menacing turn, where race has been introduced into the conversation."

Asking a direct question to Engelbert, Mathisen added, "How do you try and stay ahead of that, try and tamp it down, 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?"

Engelbert's response to this question went viral, with the clip posted by Ken Swift on X tallying over 216,000 views.

"One thing that is great about the league right now, we do sit at this intersection of culture, and sport, and fashion, and music," Engelbert began. "The WNBA players are really looked at now as kind of cultural icons. When you have that, you have a lot of attention on you."

Engelbert also compared Clark and Reese to Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, adding that rivalries are a good thing for the league. Where the commissioner's comments became especially controversial was when she brought up social media.

"I always tell the players," Engelbert said. "I was told a long time ago, if someone is typing something in and you wouldn't ask their advice, ignore it."

Many fans felt this was an insufficient response to the question being asked, and Engelbert has now responded to that criticism with a post on X.

This response has also faced a lot of criticism. In the first two hours after her post on X, Engelbert received over 170 responses and 500 quotes. Many of these were from WNBA fans who did not appreciate her initial comments or this post.

Engelbert has served as the WNBA commissioner since 2019.

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