Guard Sophie Cunningham speaks with media members during her Indiana Fever exit interview on Thursday, October 2, 2025.
Indiana Fever, WNBA
The pressure keeps mounting for WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, with Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham the latest to challenge and call out the WNBA’s leadership.
Cunningham bluntly stated, “I am just tired of our league. They need to step up and be better. Our leadership from top to bottom needs to be held accountable.”
She continued, “There are a lot of people in positions of power within the WNBA, who they might be really great business people but they don’t know s–t about basketball and that has got to change.”
Cunningham was then asked by a reporter about the comments made by Minnesota Lynx player Napheesa Collier during her exit interview on Tuesday, September 30. She said in support of Collier’s comments about the officiating, “I think there is room for improvement, to change the criteria when the whole league is asking for it, but the leadership isn’t doing anything about it? But why?”
In addition to the officiating, Cunningham didn’t hold back about the leadership faults, “When it comes to the CBA, our leadership on that side is just very poor. Very, very poor. I think Napheesa hit it right on the head, I don’t think I really need to go into detail but that’s just coming from one player and that’s probably just 1% of what she knows, right? So just imagine what the whole league knows what is going on behind the scenes.”
Caitlin Clark Supports Napheesa Collier’s Statement
In addition to Cunningham talking about Engelbert’s leadership, guard Caitlin Clark said in her exit interview, “I mean first of all, I have a lot, I have great respect for Phee and I think she made a lot of very valid points and you know what I think that people need to understand, you know we need great leadership in this time, across all levels. This is straight up the most important moment in this league’s history. This league has been around for 25 plus years and this is a moment we have to capitalize on. Phee said it all and I think the points that she made were very valid.”
Clark was also asked if she heard that story from Collier before it was publicly stated and she said no. She also indicated that she had not heard from Engelbert at all since Collier’s statement on September 30.
At this point, the pressure is surely mounting on Engelbert, as ESPN host Scott Van Pelt pointed out on his show, one of the league’s most respected and best voices has amplified the impact.
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/allisonsmith/2025/10/02/theyre-failing-us-sophie-cunningham-critiques-wnba-leadership/
