There’s some trouble in WNBA town.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert canceled an interview with Dan Patrick after the league’s public relations team told her to do so, according to the radio host.
The popular sports broadcaster had promoted the interview, set for Thursday, all week on “The Dan Patrick Show.”
Engelbert was in the area of Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where the show is recorded, for the American Century Championship golf tournament.
Patrick said he and his producers “waited almost two hours” for Engelbert, contacting the WNBA multiple times before getting a “feeble” response.
“And then we got word that the commissioner said that the WNBA staff, the PR staff, said that she is not allowed to do this,” Patrick said. “They would prefer that she did not do [the interview].
“Did you check with PR before you said yes to us?”
Patrick continued by saying if the WNBA wanted to be treated as a serious league, Engelbert has to be prepared to be in difficult situations.
Patrick admitted he was preparing to ask hard questions, but nothing that was unfair.
“I thought this was going to be a good thing for the WNBA because people still want answers here,” Patrick said. “There’s so many people who have an opinion, agendas here, and this was a chance to sit down.
“And yes, would the questions be tough? Yes, yes. And I’m sure that had something to do with [Engelbert canceling]… So, it’s just disappointing.”
Patrick said Engelbert’s pulling out of the interview is a disservice to the WNBA.
Patrick, like many, has been covering the incident between Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas on June 24.
During a loose-ball play, Thomas first landed on Clark’s neck, then she stepped over the former Iowa standout.
No foul was called.
In the days after the play, Thomas said she received death threats, but according to her, Engelbert never reached out. ESPN, however, reported the two exchanged texts in the wake of the play.
A group of Republican lawmakers this week sent a letter to Engelbert over what they called “repeated acts of unnecessary physical hostility and violence” toward Clark.
