What's Going On With The WNBA
A picture-in-picture of Bill Simmons and Cathy Engelbert.As numerous off-court controversies have distracted from the WNBAâs on-court action, commissioner Cathy Engelbertâs leadership has been questioned by players, fans and media. You can add Bill Simmons to the list in the latter category.
On The Bill Simmons Podcast Monday, Simmons expressed his frustration with Engelbert, who he predicts will no longer be in her current post in 2027.
âNobody needs a commissioner more than the WNBA right now,â Simmons said. âThe leagueâs legitimately fun to watch, and yet, all anyone talks about is dumb sh*t. Anyone who participates in the sh*tty discourse about the league, I think that speaks more about them than the league. But what the league really needs is a commissioner, and I would personally bet anything that we will not have this commissioner next year.â
Engelbert has served as commissioner since 2019, and her contract reportedly expires at the end of 2026. Last month, ESPN reported that âmultiple high-ranking team sourcesâ believe this will be her final campaign.
League canât seem to stick to basketballThe current WNBA controversy involves Sophie Cunningham, her comments against transgender athletes in womenâs sports, and all of the ensuing blowback and politicization of the issue.
This season, the league has also dealt with, among other things, ongoing discourse surrounding Caitlin Clark and how she is treated and officiated, as well as multiple instances of players being abused by fans.
âIâve never seen a league more determined to not push fun stars and fun storylines and fun people,â Simmons continued. âLike Olivia Miles, if this was the NBA, this would be anyone talked about, âHave you seen Olivia Miles? Sheâs on tonightâŠâ In the WNBA, sheâs like an annoyance, that sheâs just a good storyline. Push your f*cking player! Instead, itâs all this discourse stuff, and theyâre just stepping in bear traps left and right because they have no adults in charge of the league.â
As we said, Simmons is not the first person to question Engelbert or call for her dismissal. He also probably wonât be the last.
Itâs just a matter of waiting to see if Engelbertâs time will really come to an end after the new year.
The post âThey have no adults in chargeâ: Bill Simmons does not hold back on WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert appeared first on The Comeback: Todayâs Top Sports Stories & Reactions.
Aug 8, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) reacts after shooting against the Chicago Sky during the first half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn ImagesINDIANAPOLIS â A former Phoenix Mercury guard is reportedly âshopping a tell-all bookâ after finding herself at the center of a national conversation that extends beyond basketball.
Sep 17, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Phoenix Mercury guard Sophie Cunningham (9) celebrates against the LA Sparks in the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Sophie Cunningham, a current guard for the Indiana Fever, is facing mounting attention over comments opposing transgender women competing in womenâs sports. The comments come as the WNBA is already experiencing unprecedented attention, with players, coaches, fans and now even political commentators weighing in on the subject.
The former Mercury guard has become one of the leagueâs most talked-about players as the conversation continues, and now, according to Page Six, that attention could potentially turn into a book deal.
Aug 8, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) shoots against the Chicago Sky during the first half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
The debate over transgender athletes has sparked criticism from fellow sports figures, including Megan Rapinoe, while also attracting vocal support. The controversy has produced protests and rallies and prompted the WNBA and its players association to address the broader debate over transgender participation in womenâs sports.
Itâs also the kind of attention that can create opportunities beyond the court.
Jun 30, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Mercury guard Sophie Cunningham (9) against the Indiana Fever at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Cunningham is no longer simply a WNBA player people recognize. She has become a figure who isnât afraid to say whatâs on her mind â and now, she could have another venue to do it.
*Get the BEST Phoenix sports insider information, and exclusive content. SIGN UP HERE to unlock our premium content!*Wendy Lopez is a reporter for Burn City Sports. You can follow her on her X account, @wlopezde
Screenshot from The Stephen A. Smith ShowAs the WNBA watches the right continue to hijack narratives around the sport for political gain, Stephen A. Smith is urging the league to take a stand.
Last month, Smith posed the irrational question of, âWhat if an NBA player decided to transition to playing in the WNBA?â To be clear, there has never been a transgender athlete in the WNBA; there has never been a transgender athlete who has fought for the right to play in the WNBA. But Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunninghamâs recent comments on transgender athletes opened the door for more bad-faith commentary around the discussion.
Enes Kanter and Royce White recently took the insincerity around the discussion to new heights by âdeclaringâ for the 2027 WNBA Draft, which the right has treated as some sort of âtold you soâ moment. But this has been the recent playbook for Republicans. They attempt to utilize the WNBAâs growing popularity to fuel culture-war debates. And according to Stephen A. Smith, itâs now on the WNBA to put an end to it.
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âYou got to have rules and regulations. You got to have law, you got to have order. You canât have this. Sure, the right is maneuvering its way through the terrain in making and politicizing this issue,â Smith acknowledged on his SiriusXM Radio show Monday afternoon. âIt doesnât negate the fact that the WNBA left the door open for it to happen. They have dropped the ball! Iâm talking about the league office; Iâm not talking about the players. And now itâs gotten to the point where everything about them is gonna be politicized.â
Smith went on to cite Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier recently threatening to charge WNBA players with assault in the wake of Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington committing a hard foul on Sophie Cunningham. Even a flagrant foul in the WNBA is at risk of being used for political fodder.
âThe time has come for folks to stop whining about how stuff is being politicized and do something about it so it canât be politicized,â Smith continued. âDo something or suck it up! You donât have a choice other than those two. You gotta take a stand at some point, because folks are coming. Because itâs an opportunity to point out flagrant hypocrisies, and theyâre not gonna pass it up. No matter what folks say.â
Current WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has overseen immense growth for the league, but sheâs also done a terrible job of putting out any fires within it. And while itâs fair to blame the WNBA for allowing certain narratives around the league to be usurped for political gain, itâs unfair to ask them to fight every fight they didnât pick.
The WNBA has not been fighting with transgender athletes. Similarly, transgender athletes have not been fighting for the right to play in the WNBA. And if the WNBA is going to have a conversation about transgender athletes, then they should have it with people who are legitimately affected by the discussion, not people such as Enes Kanter and Royce White who are attempting to gain attention by mocking the league.
The post Stephen A. Smith urges WNBA to âtake a standâ against Republicans politicizing league: âStop whiningâ appeared first on Awful Announcing.
The Indiana Fever are adding to their depth in the post.
Mercedes Russell, who was part of two WNBA championship teams with the Seattle Storm, signed with the Fever on Monday on a deal that runs through the end of the 2026 season. Indiana was granted a season-ending injury exception after center Damiris Dantas had surgery to repair her meniscus.
Russell will wear No. 5 with the Fever.
A 6-foot-6 center from the University of Tennessee, Russell has not played in the WNBA this season. She played in 20 games last year with the Los Angeles Sparks, averaging 1.7 points and 1.2 rebounds in 8.2 minutes per game. In 2024, she starred in Australia, leading the Southside Flyers to the WNBL championship by earning MVP honors after posting 14.3 points, 12.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game in the finals.
The Gatorade National Player of the Year as a high school prospect in Oregon and an All-SEC First Team selection while she played for the Lady Vols, Russell was drafted 22nd overall by the New York Liberty in 2018. She was waived midway through her rookie year and joined the Storm, appearing in 22 games as the club went on to win the championship.
Russell remained with Seattle through the 2024 season, starting 79 of the 187 games she appeared in and helping them win a second championship in 2020. For her WNBA career, she averages 4.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. She has five career double-doubles.
The Fever (20-12) have won six of their last eight games but have searched all season to find depth in the frontcourt behind All-Star forward Aliyah Boston and veteran Monique Billings. Indiana ranks seventh in total rebounds per game and 10th in block rate.
Indiana also recently signed forward Michelle Onyiah from the Upshot League to a developmental contract, but she has yet to appear in a game.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mercedes Russell signs with Indiana Fever after Damiris Dantas injury
The fact Portland has shown up for its new WNBA team is, in many ways, unsurprising given the city's long history of embracing women's sports.
The expansion Fire rank fourth in the league with an average attendance of about 14,500 fans per game. The only teams drawing more are the Golden State Valkyries, the New York Liberty and the Caitlin Clark-led Indiana Fever.
The Fire have dubbed the Moda Center the âFire Pitâ on game days and the team leans into the motif with pyrotechnics in game introductions.
"I think weâve just been so fortunate, to be honest, all year to have such an amazing atmosphere here at the Fire Pit," Fire coach Alex Sarama said. "So thatâs on the fan base, thatâs because of this local community and just turning up and supporting the team as they do.â
Portland has long supported womenâs sports. For many years, the University of Portland's soccer team had the top attendance in college soccer, spurred by national championships in 2002 and 2005 and star players like Christine Sinclair and Megan Rapinoe.
The Portland Thorns were among the founding teams of the National Womenâs Soccer League in 2013 and have regularly been one of the top drawing clubs in the league.
And then there's the Sports Bra, the nation's first women's sports bar, which opened in 2022.
âWe have some of the loudest fans in the WNBA,â center Megan DiLeo said. âAnd theyâre really like our sixth man, to be honest.â
This is the second iteration of the Fire. Portland's first WNBA team started its short run as an expansion team in 2000. Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft who died in 2018, was the Fire's chairman.
Among the Fireâs original players were Jackie Stiles and Vanessa Nygaard. The team averaged some 8,600 fans per game in 2001.
So when the team folded in 2002, it was not for lack of fan support. That year the NBA, which had owned the league's teams, sold them to affiliated NBA teams or independent owners. Allen declined to buy the Fire and the team folded.
In 2024, the Bhathal family bought the NWSL's Thorns for $63 million. Later that year, Lisa Bhathal Merage and brother Alex Bhathal, under the banner Raj Sports, were awarded a WNBA expansion team.
The Bhathals invested in a joint basketball-soccer training facility, the first of its kind in women's sports, which will formally open this month.
The team leaned heavily into the âFire Reignitedâ theme and has so far put on a respectable performance for an expansion franchise, ranking ninth overall in the league with a 13-19 record.
âThey've done a really nice job of recognizing the past while also bringing in new fans,â said fan Laura Belfour. âThere's a welcoming atmosphere and it's cool to see so many families with kids.â
Guard Carla Leite is averaging 15.5 points and 6.2 assists a game and Bridget Carleton is averaging 14.6 points and 4.4 rebounds. Carleton was the team's first pick in the WNBA expansion draft. But the team has been stung by the recent loss of guard Sarah Ashlee Barker to a season-ending ACL injury.
DiLeo and her corgi Pancake, who has her own Instagram following, have become local celebrities. Formerly Megan Gustafson before her recent marriage, DiLeo has written a children's book âPancake's Passportâ about the beloved pet's travels.
âI always heard things here and there about Portland and the womenâs sports fandom that is here,â Carleton said after the team's home opener. âBut never knew too much about it, especially never really being on the West Coast. But even this past week, feeling it on social media, feeling it in the city â going on a walk and people recognized me already, and I hadnât even played a game yet. Itâs just incredible.â
Sarama is the team's inaugural coach after serving as an assistant for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He practices an innovative coaching method called the Constraints-Led Approach, or CLA, which eschews repetitive drills in favor of putting players into situations that require creative problem-solving.
âI think weâre excited because I think there is a really good foundation here," Sarama said. "I think the good thing is we overachieved, but we havenât done that at the cost of development and playing our young players. So I think what that will do is put us in a very strong position in two years and three years as we kind of add to this core group that we have.â
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
WASHINGTON, D.C. - AUGUST 9: Georgia Amoore #8 of the Washington Mystics celebrates during the game against the Phoenix Mercury on August 9, 2026 at Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington, D.C. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE(Photo by Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images The Washington Mystics might just be the hottest team in the WNBA.
Theyâve won seven straight games, and theyâve done so against legit competition, tallying wins against the Golden State Valkyries, Las Vegas Aces, Dallas Wings (twice), and the Atlanta Dream.
Under head coach Sydney Johnson, itâs been a full-team effort headlined by young, overachieving talent. Second-year guard Sonia Citron is averaging 17.1 points, 3.8 assists, and 1.8 steals per game, while establishing herself as one of the best wing defenders in the WNBA. Kiki Iriafen (15 points, 9 rebounds) and Shakira Austin (16.2 points, 9.6 rebounds) have anchored the frontcourts, and both have established themselves among the leagueâs elite bigs.
Michaela Onyenwere is chipping in 9.6 points per game while shooting a team-best 41.9% from three, and Cotie McMahon has become a breakthrough contributor off the bench, averaging 6.9 points per game.
The Mystics have a clear identity. They possess the WNBAâs second-best defensive rating (103.3). They also lead the league in rebounds per game (37.5) and free throw attempts (25.8).
Thanks to this most recent win streak, theyâve catapulted up the standings, now sitting in fifth place, having surpassed the Dream, Wings, and New York Liberty.
The Mystics have bolstered their surging squad with the addition of Betnijah Laney-HamiltonOn top of that, on Friday, they added veteran forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton as they gear up for a playoff run. Laney-Hamilton was waived by the Liberty the day prior after a season filled with DNPs and limited on-court opportunities.
But, just two years ago, she was a starter on a championship team and a critical defender and bucket-getter. She immediately becomes the most veteran player on the roster and someone who could emerge as a key contributor come playoff time.
âWe were patient at the deadline because we believe in our group and wanted to protect our team chemistry,â Mystics president Michael Winger told ESPN, per Kareem Copeland. âBut the opportunity to add an established veteran with a wealth of experience is important for our continued development and competitiveness.â
Washington could face Indiana in the first roundIf the playoffs were to start today, the Mystics would face the Fever in the first round. The two teams have faced off twice this season, and each has come out victorious once. In the first matchup, the Mystics won in overtime behind a 30-point performance from Sonia Citron. A few weeks later, it was Caitlin Clark who hit the clutch bucket to secure the victory for the Fever.
Most would favor the Fever in a Fever-Mystics matchup, but if history is any indication, this one could come down to the wire.
In theory, Washington is ahead of schedule. The only players on the roster with playoff experience are Michael Onyenwere (who has played in four playoff games) and Shakira Austin (who has played in two).
Beating a team like the Minnesota Lynx and the Las Vegas Aces will still be an uphill battle. But, in large part due to their elite defense, theyâve held strong against both; the Mystics are 1-1 against Minnesota, and 1-0 against Las Vegas this season.
When Washington opted not to make any big moves in the offseason, it appeared they were content entering Year 2 of a rebuild.
Instead, theyâve established themselves as legitimate championship contenders.
Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White walks up the baseline Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026, during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Las Vegas Aces defeated the Indiana Fever in overtime, 86-84.Dave Portnoy called for Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White to be fired after she defended Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington following her hard foul on Sophie Cunningham.
Carrington was ejected from the court due to her Flagrant 2 foul on Cunningham, but White believed the play was unintentional.
Dave Portnoy Rips Stephanie White for Failing To Stand Up for Sophie Cunningham After DiJonai Carrington IncidentDuring a fast break in the first quarter of the Fever-Sky game, Carrington hit Cunningham across the head and neck, driving her to the court. Cunningham confronted Carrington before the other players separated them. Officials reviewed the play and ejected Carrington after deeming the foul to be a Flagrant 2.
White, however, said that she felt the foul was unintentional.
âOne of the things about Nai (DiJonai Carrington) is that sheâs going to compete. No oneâs going to walk in for an easy layup, so I donât oppose the hard foul. But I also donât think she intentionally went for the neck,â White said.
Unimpressed by Whiteâs take, Portnoy firmly thought that Carrington intentionally clashed with Cunningham. The Barstool founder expressed frustration over Whiteâs post-game press conference response and called for her immediate firing.
âGet her out of there. Fire her [expletive] today. I donât want her back on that bench. Stop defending the other players⊠When do you ever see a coach in the NBA not defend their own players?,â Portnoy said on âWake Up Barstool.â
Portnoy also claimed that White repeatedly fails to defend her own roster, including Caitlin Clark, when opposing players commit dirty fouls against them.
âThis isnât politics. Your player got assaulted. Defend your player in the press conference,â he added.
Portnoy also slammed Carrington for her on-court and off-court conduct on Monday. He labeled the Sky guard âone of the dirtiest players in the WNBA.â Furthermore, he called out mainstream media for avoiding reporting on Carringtonâs now-deleted social media post claiming Cunningham received âwhite privilege.â
The Sky-Fever clash narrowly went Cunningham and Indianaâs way. The 90-86 win helped the Fever improve to 20-12, while the Sky fell to 12-20.
The Chicago Sky will travel to Seattle to take on the Storm on Monday, while Indiana will host the New York Liberty on Tuesday.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.