{"id":633868,"date":"2026-07-11T17:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T17:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=633868"},"modified":"2026-07-11T17:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T17:06:07","slug":"weak-wnba-commissioner-reportedly-dodges-caitlin-clark-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=633868","title":{"rendered":"Weak WNBA commissioner reportedly dodges Caitlin Clark controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

As the WNBA once again faces an explosion of controversy around Caitlin Clark, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert reportedly canceled an interview.<\/p>\n

Dan Patrick, host of an eponymously named sports analysis show, revealed that Engelbert stood him up for a planned discussion. This comes as the league is facing renewed criticism over its treatment of Clark after she was punched in the throat by Phoenix Mercury star Alyssa Thomas.<\/p>\n

Watch:<\/p>\n

\n

Dan Patrick on WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert cancelling her appearance on the show:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to be treated as a serious league, this is what happens! These are tough questions, but this is a fair outlet for you \u2013 a fair platform. I will treat you with respect.\u201d pic.twitter.com\/15VOBZIxAd<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) July 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cYesterday we were hoping to do an interview with Cathy Engelbert; she\u2019s the WNBA commissioner,\u201d Patrick said, revealing that she had initially agreed to the sitdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo yesterday after the show, we waited almost two hours for her. This was scheduled. She was going to do a meeting in her hotel room, a conference call, and then she was going to join us,\u201d the host continued. \u201cWe\u2019re standing by, we\u2019re waiting to interview her. They didn\u2019t balk at anything, they didn\u2019t say \u2018You can\u2019t ask anything\u2019 and we thought, okay, we\u2019re going to finally be able to ask questions about Caitlyn Clark, the WNBA expansion, a lot of different things. And we waited and we waited and we waited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we got word\u2026 that the commissioner said that the WNBA staff, the PR staff, said that she is not allowed to do this. They would prefer that she did not do this,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cYou\u2019re the commissioner, and you\u2019re listening to the PR department, which is fine. But did you check with PR before you said yes to us? We promoted it all day yesterday\u2026 It was her opportunity to finally say, \u2018Hey, you can ask me the tough questions.\u2019 I thought this was going to be a good thing for the WNBA because people still want answers here. There\u2019s so many people who have an opinion, agendas here, and this was a chance to sit down. And yes, would the questions be tough? Yes, yes. And I\u2019m sure that had something to do with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he issued a word of advice to the commissioner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to be treated as a serious league, this is what happens! These are tough questions, but this is a fair outlet for you \u2014 a fair platform. I will treat you with respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

X users reacted:<\/p>\n

\n

Complete cowardice. How does this woman keep her job?<\/p>\n

\u2014 R C Brewer (@AJ040101) July 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Another example of the W being an amateurish organization, even after 30 years. Too bad, I really try to watch it but it has been increasingly difficult the past few years.<\/p>\n

\u2014 J D Hendrix (@JDHendrix4241) July 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

I would let the WNBA be independent from the NBA and let them sink or swim<\/p>\n

\u2014 Hi my name is Wes (@GrimmSports) July 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Very cowardly of you @CathyEngelbert<\/a>. This is just another reason the WNBA is laughed at.<\/p>\n

\u2014 InScalleyWeTrust (@Ficklin4Heisman) July 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

The WNBA is so poorly run. It\u2019s a clown show<\/p>\n

\u2014 Chase Hirt (@ChaseHirt) July 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the WNBA once again faces an explosion of controversy around Caitlin Clark, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert reportedly canceled an interview. Dan Patrick, host of an eponymously named sports analysis show, revealed that Engelbert stood him up for a planned discussion. This comes as the league is facing renewed criticism over its treatment of Clark after… Continue reading Weak WNBA commissioner reportedly dodges Caitlin Clark controversy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":633869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-633868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=633868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/633869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=633868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=633868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=633868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}