NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke at the CNBC Sport x Boardroom Game Plan Summit and was directly asked whether he played a role after the refs failed to call Alyssa Thomas’ flagrant foul on Clark. The incident sparked extreme backlash, despite the league handing her a one-game suspension after a post-game review. However, Silver dodged the question.
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“I’m not going to comment on that at all. I don’t think it’s fair to Caitlin, and to Cathy Engelbert either,” said Silver, and his non-denial was all The Athletic’s Annie Costabile needed to make her interpretation.
“And so when he chose not to say ‘that’s not true, I did not do that’ out of respect or protection for Cathy and Caitlin, I was like, ‘Okay, so he did that. He did get involved,” Costabile said on Tuesday’s episode of the No Offseason podcast.
“A whole area of this conversation that is really unclear is exactly how much oversight Adam has. And exactly how much influence he has on her specific role. The other thing that I’ll say about this is that the scope of the microscope on the WNBA is only growing bigger and bigger with each passing year. And because of that, it’s exposing where the league has inefficiencies.”
So when Silver chose not to directly refute the reports of his involvement in the Thomas suspension decision, Costabile read that as confirmation, even though a WNBA spokesperson already denied it.
Given the way Cathy Engelbert has handled several of the controversies that have erupted since the June 24 flagrant foul that got Thomas suspended for one game, it naturally raises questions about the WNBA commissioner’s decision-making, especially since she cancelled the Dan Patrick interview where she would’ve faced the tough questions, as per Patrick himself.
These leadership lapses and slow responses are not a new phenomenon within the WNBA. What is new is the spotlight. The league’s growing visibility has simply exposed institutional shortcomings that obscurity kept hidden for years. The problems were always there.
“I think these late responses, these no responses in the past are not a reflection of the league not caring or not thinking it should do something, but the fact that they are literally learning as they go,” Costabile added.
For her, how things have played out is a reflection of an organisation caught somewhat unprepared by the speed and scale of its own growth. The WNBA is a bigger league than its infrastructure can manage. And the scrutiny that the 2026 season has brought has revealed where the league needs to put in the work.