Trending
Thirty years after the establishment of the WNBA, the league has finally achieved equal footing with all the other professional sports in America.
Not in a good way, however.
The regrettable experience that the WNBA shares with the other leagues is a self-inflicted battering from controversy and bad press.
When a U.S. Senator speaks out against perceived failings in executive league leadership, there are obvious problems.
It appears ever more likely that history's assessment of the 2026 WNBA season will focus less on competitive achievements than issues of race, trans-athlete participation and alleged mistreatment of a revolutionary star player.
Seemingly at the center of it all are Indiana Fever guards Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham and their head coach, Stephanie White.
The stature that Clark earned as the national player of the year at the University of Iowa made her a favorite target for over-aggressive play in the pro ranks.
This past July, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who counts West Des Moines native Clark as a constituent, went to the floor of the Senate chamber to support Clark by chastising the league.
"Officials are human, but we've seen time after time where Caitlin has suffered physically beyond what you expect in competitive professional sports, with little accountability from the people that run the WNBA or from the referees," Grassley said.
Cunningham ventured into the treacherous waters of public opinion by expressing her belief that transgender athletes should be barred from girls' and women's sports.
That triggered rallies in support of and opposition to her stance at Fever games.
A flagrant 2 foul committed against Cunningham in early August evolved into charges by members of the online community that White doesn't have the backs of her players and a "white privilege" post by the player who committed the foul on Cunningham.
In a retort to her critics, White said, "The hate, the fear mongering, the divisiveness, the stuff that's trying to hijack our league will not win."
All things considered, the WNBA is in a state of unseemly mess.
Not only is this house in disorder, it's littered with dysfunction.
The heart-tugging televised images of little girls awaiting autographs during WNBA games belie the turmoil that would give the most seasoned P.R. rep an ulcer.
The top pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, Clark has been a marketing dream come true for the WNBA.
Unfortunately, the obvious jealousy that Clark's celebrity and athletic success have engendered throughout the league is the WNBA's worst nightmare.
Cunningham landed in the eye of the hurricane by choosing to use her platform to verbalize a personal opinion on a social issue, a right that is retained by every other professional athlete.
More accurately, by every American.
As for White, the pounding of fists and use of swear words during a highly publicized delivery of a prepared statement demonstrate her mastery of theatrics.
The question is whether she can convey an impression of solidarity with and compassion for her players when she's talking extemporaneously.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who has announced that she is retiring at the end of the year, governed by pulling the covers over her head and waiting for the storms to pass.
Hailed as a world-class business leader when she was hired in May 2019, Engelbert should have been skilled in applying Corporate America's tools of the trade.
From the tattered look of things, the first tool out of the box should have been conflict resolution.
Jim Caltagirone writes a monthly column for the Mirror.