Cathy Engelbert has grown familiar with hostile crowds. Nearly a year after being loudly booed in Phoenix during Game 4 of the 2025 WNBA Finals, the league’s commissioner stepped to the microphone at the Barclays Center on Tuesday to present the Commissioner’s Cup trophy to the New York Liberty. Here as well, she was met with the same reception.
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The moment was captured on video and posted to X by a user @zavanchy.
“New York Liberty crowd instantly boos the moment WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert touches the mic 😭😭😭,” the post’s caption read.
Engelbert did not linger. She moved through her remarks quickly and left the stage without addressing either team’s performance in detail.
“Congratulations to both teams. Hard fought by the Aces to get here tonight,” she said as per USA Today. “But Clara and Joe, the entire Liberty organization, the entire Liberty coaching staff…2026 Commissioner’s Cup champions. Congratulations.”
Engelbert was also booed while announcing Breanna Stewart as the tournament MVP following her 25-point, 11-rebound performance in the final. Engelbert did not visibly react to either instance.
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Cathy Engelbert, chief executive officer of Deloitte LLP, speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in New York, U.S., on Tuesday, March 8, 2016. Engelbert said Deloitte would hire 25,000 people in 2016. Photographer: Chris Goodney/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The hostility was not unfounded either. The 2025 version of this scene, at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, came at a particularly charged moment. The league had just ratified a new CBA under contentious circumstances, and Napheesa Collier’s public criticism of the league’s leadership was still circulating on social media. That bitterness carried over into how the crowd received Engelbert that night.
This time, the pressure has come from a different direction. However, it has been building throughout the season.
Cathy Engelbert Also Faced a Callout From Alyssa Thomas Ahead of the Commissioner’s Cup Finals
The incident that has defined much of the 2026 WNBA season’s public narrative involved Alyssa Thomas making contact with Caitlin Clark’s throat during a Fever-Mercury game, with no foul called in real time. The league reviewed the play afterward, upgraded it to a Flagrant 2, and issued Thomas a one-game suspension.
Thomas accepted the punishment. What followed was a public callout directed at Engelbert specifically. This wasn’t prompted by the suspension itself, but by the wave of threatening messages Thomas and her teammates received from fans in the aftermath of the incident.
“We still have yet to hear anything from Cathy (Engelbert). It’s no surprise,” Thomas said, as per USA Today. “You can see what’s being said on social media… but as usual, she remains silent and that’s unfortunate when our lives are being threatened.… The league has to do better.”
Engelbert did respond. Her statement addressed the threats Thomas and her teammates received, not the suspension outcome.
“We are aware of Alyssa Thomas’ comments. What she and her teammates have experienced is completely unacceptable and not representative of the WNBA community,” Engelbert said.
Whether fans at the Barclays Center were reacting specifically to that exchange or to a broader accumulation of discontent is hard to say with certainty. What is clear is that Engelbert has not found a way to occupy a comfortable position with the fan base this season. Tuesday night was another reminder of that. The protection and welfare of players remains the most visible test of her leadership, and it is a test that keeps surfacing.