The 2024 WNBA season was supposed to be the victory lap. It was the year the league finally broke through—shattering attendance records, dominating TV ratings, and capturing the cultural zeitgeist thanks to the arrival of Caitlin Clark. On the surface, it looked like the dawn of a golden age. But behind the scenes, the foundation was rotting, and this week, it finally gave way.
In a sequence of events that has left the sports world stunned, the WNBA is facing an existential crisis. Sophie Cunningham has defected to a Saudi-backed league, Caitlin Clark is reportedly considering a similar move, and Commissioner Cathy Engelbert—unable to stem the tide—has resigned. The league that spent decades fighting for relevance is now fighting for survival against a competitor with effectively unlimited pockets.
The First Domino: Sophie Cunningham’s Choice
For years, WNBA players have lived a double life: grinding through the domestic season for modest pay, then flying overseas to Russia, Turkey, or China to make their real money. It was an accepted, if exhausting, reality. But Sophie Cunningham just changed the equation.
Cunningham, a respected veteran and fan favorite, didn’t just sign a standard overseas contract. She signed a deal with the new Saudi-backed women’s basketball league that reportedly dwarfs her entire WNBA career earnings. We aren’t talking about a small raise; we are talking about life-changing, guaranteed wealth handed over instantly.
Her departure sent a shockwave through the locker rooms. Cunningham isn’t a global icon like Clark or A’ja Wilson, yet she commanded a fortune on the open market. It forced every player to ask the dangerous question: If Sophie is worth that much, what am I worth?
The Caitlin Clark Ultimatum
If Cunningham was the tremor, Caitlin Clark is the earthquake. Reports indicate that the same Saudi investors are preparing a contract for Clark that is astronomical in scale—potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars over multiple years.
Clark’s impact on the WNBA is undeniable. She fills arenas and drives viewership single-handedly. Yet, her rookie salary is capped at less than $80,000. The disparity between the value she generates and the check she receives is comical. The Saudi offer exploits this gap perfectly. It offers not just money, but freedom—freedom from commercial flights, freedom from grueling back-to-back schedules, and freedom from a league structure that moves too slowly to reward its stars.
This isn’t about greed; it’s about math. One injury could end a career. Why risk it all for “loyalty” to a league that can’t pay you your market value when you can secure generational wealth with a single signature?
The Fall of Cathy Engelbert
Caught in the middle of this financial hurricane was Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. Engelbert’s tenure was defined by growth—she brought in new sponsors, expanded the schedule, and capitalized on the “Clark Effect.” But she was fighting a war she couldn’t win.
The WNBA’s business model relies on slow, steady growth and subsidies from the NBA. It simply cannot compete with a sovereign wealth fund willing to burn billions to acquire talent. As player dissatisfaction mounted over safety concerns, travel issues, and pay disparities, Engelbert became the target of the frustration.
When the Saudi rumors turned into reality, the pressure became untenable. Owners demanded answers she didn’t have. Players demanded counter-offers the league couldn’t afford. Her resignation is the ultimate admission of defeat: The old system is broken, and no amount of marketing spin can fix it.
A League at the Crossroads
The WNBA now faces a terrifying future. If Caitlin Clark follows Cunningham out the door, the league loses its primary engine of growth. It risks becoming a “feeder league”—a place where players develop before graduating to the real money overseas.
This is the same disruption that tore apart professional golf and is currently reshaping soccer. The difference is that those sports had decades of entrenched history and financial reserves to fall back on. The WNBA does not.
The resignation of the Commissioner and the exodus of talent signals the end of the “loyalty era.” Women’s basketball has officially become a global free market. The players have realized their power, and they are no longer willing to subsidize the league’s growth with their own financial sacrifice. The WNBA must now find a way to compete in this new world, or risk becoming a footnote in the history of the sport. The game has changed, and right now, the WNBA is losing.
