A furious Dave Portnoy has accused WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert of an ‘absolute coward move’ after she pulled out of a radio interview amid the Caitlin Clark throat punch drama.
The WNBA became embroiled in more controversy last month when Clark – who has emerged as the face of the league in recent years – was punched in the throat by Phoenix Mercury star Alyssa Thomas while playing for the Indiana Fever.
In the wake of the shocking incident, Engelbert was supposed to make an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show this week, according to the radio host.
Yet Patrick claimed on Friday that she cancelled her appearance at the last minute on the advice of the WNBA’s PR team, which has left Portnoy seething.
‘This is one of my biggest pet peeves in the world. When people like @CathyEngelbert say they can’t do something because their agent or PR said so. THEY WORK FOR YOU. Absolute coward move,’ the Barstool Sports chief, who is one of Clark’s most vocal supporters, wrote on X.
‘Anyway this is just yet another example of what [a clown] show the @wnba is. Worst run league in the world’.
Dave Portnoy has accused WNBA chief Cathy Engelbert of an ‘absolute coward move’
Engelbert was in the area of Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where Patrick’s show is recorded, for the American Century Championship golf tournament.
And Patrick had promoted the interview with her, which had been scheduled for Thursday, throughout the week.
Yet, when the allotted time rolled around, the host claimed that Engelbert, who has served as the WNBA’s Commissioner for seven years, did not show.
Patrick said he and his producers ‘waited almost two hours’ for the women’s basketball exec, 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?’
He continued to insist that if the WNBA wanted to be treated as a top league in the United States then its commissioner should be willing to face the music.
He admitted he was preparing to ask some tough questions, but nothing unfair that Engelbert shouldn’t have to answer to.
Fever star Caitlin Clark was punched in the throat by Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas
Engelbert pulled out of a scheduled interview with Dan Patrick (pictured) in light of the incident
‘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.’
Engelbert’s cancelled interview comes after Patrick, like the majority of news outlets and networks in the US, has extensively covered the fallout from the punch on Clark.
The Fever guard was driving to the hoop when she fell to the ground in the paint while under pressure from a number of Mercury defenders.
Three rival players were battling to strip the ball away from Clark and succeeded in doing so. But, while she was down on the floor, Mercury star Alyssa Thomas charged in and put her closed fist into her neck.
The WNBA’s lack of reaction to Thomas’ punch on Clark has sparked a firestorm directed at the player, officials and the league for what some believe is a routine failure to protect the Indiana superstar.
A group of 11 Republican lawmakers even wrote a letter to Engelbert this week demanding that the WNBA Commissioner take ‘accountability’ for the ‘multiple attacks’ on Clark.
