Brad Penner-Imagn Images/John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert and NBA commissioner Adam Silver
It’s been a few weeks since Alyssa Thomas ended up at the center of a firestorm of controversy in the wake of a hard foul on Caitlin Clark. She was ultimately suspended for a game over the incident, but that may not have been the case if Adam Silver hadn’t stepped in to persuade Cathy Engelbert to go that route.
There have recently been some questions about whether or not Caitlin Clark has lived up to the massive amount of hype that surrounded her when she took her talents to the WNBA. However, it is impossible to deny that she is one of the league’s most marketable players and has a tendency to attract an amount of attention that’s virtually unrivaled.
That was highlighted by what transpired after she took a fist to the throat courtesy of Alyssa Thomas during a showdown between the Fever and the Mercury on June 24th, as it’s very hard to imagine that incident would have become as big of a mess as it did if Clark hadn’t been on the receiving end.
Caitlin Clark got punched in the throat & stepped on by Alyssa Thomas.
No foul, of course 🙄 pic.twitter.com/peBy5K3kfi
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) June 25, 2026
No foul was assessed during the game, but Thomas (who has a history of hard fouls that border on dirty) was retroactively issued a flagrant and hit with a one-game suspension. However, it sounds like the WNBA’s commissioner wasn’t going to force her to ride the bench until she was pressured by the man who oversees the NBA.
Adam Silver reportedly had to advise Cathy Engelbert to suspend Alyssa Thomas
Cathy Engelbert has faced plenty of criticism since taking over as the commissioner of the WNBA in 2019, and she was subjected to another wave after The Clark Incident raised questions about lackluster officiating and the league’s inability to protect one of its biggest names.
The decision to suspend Thomas also riled some people up, and according to Sports Business Journal, Engelbert initially had no plans to go that far. However, the outlet spoke with multiple sources who say “Adam Silver implored her to reverse course and issue the discipline” before she did exactly that, which does not exactly inspire a ton of confidence in her leadership abilities.
Last week, Dan Patrick was more than willing to call Engelbert out for ducking an interview she’d previously agreed to before the WNBA’s PR team talked her out of it, and the SBJ report suggests Silver’s involvement in the Clark-Thomas dispute is the latest sign that her tenure as commish is nearing an end.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see if that ends up being the case.