Cathy Engelbert walked out to hand over a trophy on Tuesday night. The Barclays Center crowd made sure she knew how they felt about her first.
The WNBA commissioner was drowned out by boos the moment she grabbed the microphone. The jeers did not stop until she left the stage. New York had just beaten the defending champion Las Vegas Aces 93-85. The Liberty held off a fourth quarter push to win the Commissioner’s Cup for the second time since the event launched in 2021.
Engelbert tried to push through her remarks anyway. Her voice barely carried over the noise.
“Congratulations to both teams. Hard fought by the Aces to get here tonight,” Engelbert said. “But Clara and Joe, the entire Liberty organization, the entire Liberty coaching staff. 2026 Commissioner’s Cup champions. Congratulations.”
The reception was not really about the game. Hours earlier, Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas had called out Cathy Engelbert. Thomas said the commissioner stayed silent while she dealt with death threats and online abuse. The threats followed her one-game suspension for making contact with Caitlin Clark’s throat during a June 24 win over Indiana.
The play was not flagged in real time. Officials retroactively upgraded it to a Flagrant 2 foul, and the league fined Thomas $1,000 on top of the suspension.
Thomas did not hold back when she met with reporters before the Cup final.
“A lot of us, myself included, didn’t even know the play took place until after the game,” Thomas said. “And now we’re being painted as thugs. And there are death threats out on us, so it’s really unacceptable. It’s something that needs to change in this league, and I’m just really sick and tired of it.”
Cathy Engelbert answered with a written statement later that day. She condemned the threats but did not name Thomas in her live remarks at Barclays Center.
“The WNBA vehemently condemns any and all forms of hate,” Engelbert said. “The safety and well-being of everyone in our community is always the league’s top priority. We are aware of Alyssa Thomas’ comments, and what she said her and her teammates have experienced is completely unacceptable and not representative of the WNBA community.”
That statement did little to shift the mood in the building. Fans have now booed Cathy Engelbert at back-to-back marquee events. The pattern dates back to the 2025 WNBA Finals in Phoenix, when she was drowned out while crowning the Aces champions. That night followed Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier calling Engelbert’s leadership the worst in the league. Aces star A’ja Wilson backed that claim in public.
Cathy Engelbert’s Execration Is A Pattern The League Cannot Shake
The boos are becoming a habit for Cathy Engelbert, and that is a problem the league cannot spin away. Two of the WNBA’s biggest nights in the last year have ended with fans turning a trophy presentation into a verdict on her leadership.
Breanna Stewart won Finals MVP for the Cup game after grabbing 11 rebounds. Sabrina Ionescu poured in a season-high 26 points to close it out. None of that mattered once Engelbert took the mic.
Reports later surfaced that Engelbert had texted Thomas privately before the boos ever started, and had directed WNBA security to coordinate with the Mercury. None of that came up when she had the microphone in front of a live crowd.
Thomas and the Mercury return to action Thursday against Seattle, then face Chicago five days later. The bigger date on the calendar is July 9, when Phoenix visits Indiana for the first meeting since the incident. How Cathy Engelbert handles that rematch will decide whether these boos start following her everywhere she goes.
