Cathy Engelberts job security is still major WNBA question with league facing troubling issues

CHICAGO — Tuesday’s meeting between player committees and WNBA officials, including commissioner Cathy Engelbert, focused on security, online harassment and officiating.But Women’s National Basketball Players Association president Nneka Ogwumike used the rare face time with Engelbert to make a point.“I told Cathy, we shouldn’t just be talking when things go wrong,” Ogwumike recalled Friday during All-Star availability.“We also need to be talking when things go right.”Engelbert’s working relationship with players, especially the league’s stars, has been under a microscope for quite some time.The criticism, though, intensified over the past year amid contentious negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement and now as the league faces a variety of troublesome issues, including the topics discussed Tuesday.After last season, Lynx star Napheesa Collier blasted the WNBA for having the “worst leadership in the world.” She also said the “real threat” to the league isn’t money, ratings or officiating, but a lack of accountability at the top.Several players said they don’t have close relationships with Engelbert, including Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu, who said she talks with NBA commissioner Adam Silver more.All of this has brought into question Engelbert’s job security.

Front Office Sports reported her contract is set to expire at the end of this year.Could this be it for Engelbert? Or maybe the better question is whether Engelbert is the right leader to steer the WNBA in its next chapter.WNBPA vice president Breanna Stewart isn’t sure.“I don’t know,” she said.“… It’s not my place to say if she should be here or she should not.”Ogwumike also said it wasn’t her place to weigh in.Engelbert got defensive when asked about her future at the WNBA draft in April — just weeks after her boss, Silver, appeared noncommittal when asked a similar question.Saturday was the first time Engelbert was scheduled to speak with r...