WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has decided to hand the recently growing transgender athletes issue in women’s sports over to a task force, rather than establishing a league policy. For Caitlin Clark’s biographer Christine Brennan, that decision, alongside a string of others Engelbert has made, is a poor reflection of her leadership of the WNBA.
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Speaking in a live interview with CNN, a video of which Brennan shared on her own X page, she described Engelbert’s handling of the situation. She argued that the league has repeatedly failed to provide clear leadership on most issues during the league’s explosive growth in the past few years.
“No, it’s not,” Brennan said, responding directly to whether handing the issue to a task force was the right call. “But the WNBA and Cathy Engelbert, as the commissioner, has done a terrible job of trying to navigate all kinds of issues since what I would call the Caitlin Clark era, which is the last three years… This is a tough issue for them.”
There has been a renewed focus on eligibility to play in the WNBA, which prompted Cathy Engelbert‘s decision. This can be traced to Caitlin Clark’s Fever teammate Sophie Cunningham’s outspoken opposition to transgender athletes in women’s sports. Her statement sparked considerable controversy and a growing public debate across the league. Many were in agreement, and many like Valkyries Forward Gabby Williams were firmly against her stance, even expressing her openness to welcoming transgender athletes into the WNBA.
What also seemed to contribute to Engelbert’s action was the move by former NBA centers Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, who publicly declared their intentions to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft by identifying as women. Many viewed these as an attempt to test the parameters of the league’s eligibility and entry criteria. Brennan herself characterized it as another example of a mockery of WNBA leadership.
But, in Brennan’s view, there was no need to establish a task force to address anything. For her, the international basketball governing body has already resolved this exact issue, and all Engelbert needs to do is follow its lead.
“The good news is that the international basketball community has given the WNBA the way to go. FIBA has a policy that if you’ve gone through male puberty, you cannot compete in any of their events, world championships, or World Cup basketball. Next month, Caitlin Clark and 11 other players will represent the US at the World Cup. All the WNBA needs to do is just say we are going to follow the rules that the international governing body has, where 12 of our players will be competing for the US in less than a month.”
If Engelbert will not use FIBA policy as the framework, she could simply align with the existing federal guidance. According to Brennan, the US President Donald Trump already issued his executive order, which prevents transgender women in women’s sports. The order is called the ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’ per a report by ESPN from February 2025. Different sports bodies in the country like the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee have already gone along with Trump’s executive order. For Brennan, that’s an out for the WNBA as well.
However, according to the memo that the Associated Press and ESPN reported on Saturday, Engelbert’s position is that any formal eligibility changes are complex and must go through collective bargaining with the WNBA Players Association. And so, she chose to leave the determination of the league’s next move to further discussion.