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Indiana fever The Sophie Cunningham guard has been among the most open WNBA players in addressing the recent controversy surrounding Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. During his last episode of Podcast, Cunningham continued talking, calling the League Chief for Acting for his own interest.
Both social networks and in his departure interview on Wednesday, Cunningham spoke extensively about his problems with Engelbert and the league officiating.
The Indiana fever guard, Sophie Cunningham (8) is heated before the start of the game against Connecticut’s sun in Mohegan Sun Arena. (David Butler II/Imagn images)
“I am tired of our league. They need to take a step forward and be better. Our leadership from top to bottom must be responsible. I think there are many people in positions of power in the WNBA, Who can really be great entrepreneurs, but they don’t know about basketball. And that has to change. ”
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In the last episode of his podcast, “Show me something” Cunningham expanded on his thoughts in the middle of the current negotiations of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
“At the end of the day, everyone is fed up, fed up with how the league is treating us.
“They should be ashamed of themselves because they are returning us because it is nothing. It’s nothing. They are not listening. The thing is not even committed to us. It’s bad.”
Cunningham, whose first season with fever was interrupted due to an injury, again addressed Engelbert. She said Engelbert lacked the qualities of a “great leader,” and said that the commissioner’s recent comments were out of their own interest.
The Indiana fever guard, Sophie Cunningham (8), plays against Phoenix Mercury during a WNBA game in Phx Arena in Phoenix, Arizona, on August 7, 2025. (Mark J. Rebila/images imagn)
The WNBA commissioner denies the alleged statement saying that Caitlin Clark should be “grateful” to the league for success
“The great leaders want other people to be more successful than them, they want to make sure they are careful,” Cunningham said. “And I understand, she is the commercial side. As, I understand. But it can be respectful and treat their product, the product of why people are paying attention, why people buy certain shirts, treat their product with respect.
“As, being a great leader. It is not. It is not in any sense. Lack of respect is crazy for me.”
“I think this is such a crucial point in the WNBA because there are so many eyes in us, there are so many new fans: there are millions of millions, I must say, of the new fans, and at the end of the day she is worried about her. In all her statements it is like, ‘Well, I got me here and I -‘ ‘Cathy nobody takes care of. Literally, nobody cares.”
Engelbert went to the media on Friday and asked about the comments that Naphesa Collier claimed that he did about the star player Caitlin Clark. Engelbert denied the accusations.
Cathy Engelbert talks to the media during the WNBA 2024 Draft on April 15, 2024, at the Brooklyn Music Academy in Brooklyn, New York. (Melanie Fidler/NBAE through Getty Images)
“Obviously, I didn’t make those comments. Caitlin has been a transformation player in this league. He has been a great representative of the game. He has brought dozens of millions of new fans to the game,” he said.
“There is a lot of inaccuracy through social networks and all these reports,” he added later. “Many reports, a lot of inaccuracy about what I say, what I didn’t say.”
The Association of Players and the WNBA agreed an eight -year agreement in 2020, but last year the WNBPA voted to choose not to participate in the early agreement. The current agreement expires on October 31.
