The WNBA is denying a report that Adam Silver influenced the suspension of Alyssa Thomas following an on-court incident with Caitlin Clark.
In a statement to Front Office Sports, a WNBA spokesperson said the report that NBA commissioner Adam Silver pushed WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert to suspend Alyssa Thomas is “absolutely false.”
On Wednesday morning, Sports Business Journal reported that Silver “persuaded” Engelbert to suspend Thomas for an incident on June 24 in which the Mercury star struck Clark’s throat. Thomas was not thrown out of the game.
A day later, the league handed Thomas a Flagrant 2—which comes with a $1,000 fine—and one-game suspension for what it deemed to be a “non-basketball act.”
The level of influence the NBA has on the WNBA’s decision making is a longstanding question. The NBA holds a 42% equity stake in the WNBA, while multiple NBA owners have separate ownership stakes in the WNBA. The NBA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Silver was asked about the future of Engelbert as WNBA commissioner on Tuesday night during a press conference at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. He did not give a definitive answer, but was complimentary about Engelbert’s performance.
“I’m very pleased with where the WNBA is. We’ve made tremendous progress under her leadership over the last several years … Cathy continues doing a strong job building that league. And we’ll have ongoing discussions about what the future looks like.” Silver said.
In March, Silver said there have been “no discussions yet” about Engelbert’s future. A month later, Engelbert aggressively deflected when asked about her future ahead of the 2026 WNBA season.
“I do crack up 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,” Engelbert said.
