Sophie Cunningham Claims She Could Fix The WNBA: ‘I Should Be The Commissioner’

While her teammates are busy representing Team USA in the 2026 FIBA World Cup, Sophie Cunningham is quietly making her case to head the league after current WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s departure.

The league has been on the lookout for new leadership ever since Engelbert announced that she would be stepping down from her role as the commissioner at the end of the calendar year. With this being Engelbert’s last season with the WNBA, Cunningham has decided to throw her hat in the ring as her potential successor.

With only one episode into her new podcast, No Hesitation Show, Cunningham didn’t take long to present herself as one of the potential candidates for the role of future WNBA commissioner.

“Honestly, the more I think about that, I think I should be the commissioner. I think I could get this (expletive) on the right track. Let me tell you that,” the Indiana Fever guard told her new co-host Drew Hanlen.

Sophie Cunningham reveals what she would change in the WNBA if she was the commissioner :

-Every team has a functional practice facility -More respect between WNBA management and players -A commissioner and management who can unite players -More games played and more money…

The Fever acquired Cunningham in a blockbuster four-team trade from the Phoenix Mercury in February 2025. Ever since then, she has earned the moniker of a hard-nosed “enforcer” and a vocal locker-room leader who embraced the role of protecting teammates like Caitlin Clark.

Moreover, the Fever guard has been openly critical of WNBA leadership and Engelbert for quite a while now. In fact, in a 2025 interview, Cunningham said that “they’re failing us as a league.” She also said that the people who have positions of power in the league “don’t know (expletive) about basketball.”

Cunningham previously called for a “bold” WNBA commissioner who “wants the best for the players and not maybe for themselves.”

When Hanlen asked Cunningham what would be the first thing on her to-do list if the WNBA does grant her wish, the Fever guard listed an array of reforms she would implement, including enhancing practice facilities for the teams.

The eight-year WNBA veteran revealed, “Honestly, the first thing I would do is make sure that every team legit has a functional practice facility. There are teams in the WNBA, which this is; we are supposed to be, not supposed; we are the best league in the entire world, that they, we’re, there are people practicing at, like YMCAs.”

“They are sharing a court by (sic) a curtain when there’s, like, YMCA youth camps going on one side and a team practicing on the other. Like, is that not insane? A couple (of) teams don’t even have a weight room. Is that weird?”

One can’t fully look past Cunningham’s points just because the WNBA is on a remarkable expansion. Furthermore, the issue isn’t exactly new. While many teams have announced their plans to develop dedicated practice facilities, a good number of projects have been delayed. On top of that, some remain not fully operational to date.

Cunningham then warned, “The tides are turning. But I will say there are a lot of owners who are still being very cheap and not giving us professional athletes what we need.”

Later in the episode, Cunningham also underlined the need to improve the relationship between players and management. However, in the end, the 30-year-old clarified that the WNBA commissioner role isn’t something she’s truly seeking at the moment.

Cunningham made these comments on her newly launched podcast, which replaced her Show Me Something gig. Her previous podcast went dead silent after a public falling out with her high school ride-or-die pal and former co-host West Wilson over the Fever guard’s remarks on trans athletes’ participation in women’s sports. Hanlen, a basketball trainer and Pure Sweat Basketball CEO, joins her as a new co-host on the new weekly program, which will be broadcast via iHeartPodcasts and The Volume.