Cathy Engelbert and the WNBA are doing everything possible to push Caitlin Clark out of the league

I keep thinking the WNBA can’t possibly trip over itself any harder, and then Cathy Engelbert opens her mouth. According to Napheesa Collier, she sat down with Engelbert to talk about how young players in the league make basically nothing compared to what they bring in. Engelbert’s response was that Caitlin Clark should be grateful for the WNBA because the league is “responsible” for her sponsorship deals.

Cathy Engelbert on Caitlin Clark:

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert allegedly said:

“Caitlin should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court because without the platform that the WNBA gives her she wouldn’t make anything…players should be on their knees thanking…for the media rights deal I got them.” pic.twitter.com/JlpC4XkkCK

— correlation (@nosyone4) September 30, 2025

“Caitlin should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court because without the platform that the WNBA gives her she wouldn’t make anything…players should be on their knees thanking…for the media rights deal I got them.”

That very well may be the dumbest sentence ever spoken in sports business history.

Someone tell Cathy Engelbert that Caitlin Clark had her deal with Nike before she joined the WNBA. It was an NIL deal that then turned into an endorsement when she turned pro. I mean seriously, even I know that and I barely follow their shitty basketball league.

Caitlin Clark isn’t cashing million-dollar endorsement checks because Cathy Engelbert handed her a gift bag on draft night. She’s cashing them because she spent four years rewriting the record books, pulling TV ratings that crushed NBA playoff games, and dragging women’s basketball into the mainstream by sheer force of talent and charisma.

Yet morons like Cathy Engelbert keep acting like the WNBA is doing Clark a favor.

If Caitlin Clark decided tomorrow that she wanted to launch her own league with a handful of sponsors and streaming partners, it would bury the WNBA overnight.

That’s not hyperbole. It’s reality. Caitlin Clark is the golden goose, and somehow the league office is treating her like an ungrateful intern.

The WNBA is growing in spite of Cathy Engelbert’s every move.

She’s running the league like her personal mission is to alienate Clark and anyone who actually tunes in to watch. At some point, you almost wonder if they’d be happier killing the goose that lays the golden eggs just to prove a point.

The Caitlin Clark era could’ve been the league’s “shut up and take my money” moment. Instead, Engelbert is fumbling it away with quotes so tone-deaf they read like satire. It’s almost impressive… if your life goal was to sabotage your own product.

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