Wetzel: For the good of WNBA, commish needs thicker skin

The WNBA has a new labor deal, two new expansion franchises (Portland and Toronto) and its biggest and most widespread media rights deal ever.

It has superstar A'ja Wilson seeking to lead her Las Vegas Aces to a fourth title in five years while veteran-led rosters in New York, Minnesota and elsewhere are eager to stop them.

It has a healthy Caitlin Clark on a playoff team, Angel Reese now on a contender (Atlanta) and Paige Bueckers reunited in Dallas with Azzi Fudd, her running mate from the University of Connecticut.

Everything is set up for the league to level up, at least if it can focus on the game, the talent and the competition, not personal feelings or wedge issues or whatever it was WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert was doing on Monday night.

That's when she at least partially overshadowed the league's annual draft with a viral, and bizarre, answer to a relatively mundane question.

"[NBA commissioner] Adam Silver was asked last month about your future as the commissioner of the WNBA," Madeline Kenney of the New York Post asked. "He didn't know what you wanted to do. So I guess I am just curious, how much do you want to stay [as] the commissioner of the WNBA? How much longer do you anticipate being in this role?"

Engelbert apparently didn't like the inquiry.

"I do crack up [on] how everybody's focused on me, and you should be focused on the hundreds of amazing women and thousands of women who run this league outside of myself," the commissioner said.

"I wonder whether you would ask that of a man, by the way, but I realize as women we get asked different questions than men do," Engelbert later added.

Kenney responded that she would ask that of a man. But she shouldn't have had to defend herself or her reasonable question.

Commissioners are criticized, second-guessed and badgered all the time. That's part of the job. They get booed and sued; ripped and ratioed. Have you seen (or heard) the reaction to Roger Goodell at the NFL draft? How about Gary Bettman when he hands over the Stanley Cup? Plenty of media have called for Silver's job all season for myriad reasons.

Does being a female executive in sports present unique challenges? Most likely, but this isn't one of them. Man or woman, from pro sports to college conferences to golf tours, the boss gets judged because they made tough decisions that invite such criticism.

Kenney's question wasn't even hostile or confrontational -- it didn't advocate for Engelbert's firing, it just asked when she might decide to step away.

Engelbert apparently thinks she's special in this regard, which would normally be a personal problem. It becomes a leaguewide issue if it reflects the mindset heading into what should be the W's biggest season ever.

There is too much potential here to have the focus shift from the upcoming season to issues such as these. All it does is invite additional, and in this case, fair criticism including from plenty of people who aren't always fair to the league or its players.