Bill Simmons delivers blunt message about WNBA leadership

The WNBA is dealing with a plethora of controversies at the moment. With Enes Kanter and Royce White announcing their intent to declare for the 2026 WNBA Draft, the discourse surrounding transgender athletes and their eligibility to play in the WNBA has reached the national scale. Moreover, the officiating in the league appears to be in shambles.

Amid the growing drama surrounding the league, insider Bill Simmons delivered a blunt message regarding the WNBA’s brain trust and why they need a new leader to call the shots from here on out.

“Nobody needs a commissioner more than the WNBA right now. The WNBA, which has for some reason turned into the Twitter For You page as a league, and meanwhile has all of these amazing stories going on. The league is f**king deep,” Simmons said. “The league’s legitimately fun to watch and yet all anyone talks about is dumb s**t.”

“Anyone who participates in the s**tty discourse about the league, I think that speaks more about them than the league. But what the league really needs is a commissioner. I would personally bet anything that we will not have this commissioner next year.”

“Nobody needs a commissioner more than the WNBA right now.”@BillSimmons shares his frustration with the discourse around the league and explains why there needs to be a change in leadership. pic.twitter.com/67myX6RY97

— The Ringer (@ringer) August 10, 2026

Simmons questioned why commissioner Cathy Engelbert does not market her superstars like the big deals they are considering how they are the cream of the crop in their field.

“I’ve never seen a league more determined to not push fun stars and fun storylines and fun people,” Simmons added. “Push your f**king players! Instead, it’s all this discourse stuff and they’re just stepping in bear traps left and right because they have no adults in charge of the league.”

Indeed, the WNBA is in a good spot right now, product-wise. They have some of the biggest superstars in the history of the sport like A’ja Wilson (who is on track to be the GOAT for women’s basketball), Caitlin Clark, Olivia Miles, Paige Bueckers, and a lot more talented players.

While society hasn’t yet evolved past the point of misogyny, the WNBA hasn’t truly helped distance itself from that kind of discourse — furthering Simmons’ point.

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