LAS VEGAS — It’s not often the eyes of the sports world are fixated on the WNBA in the way they were Friday with eager anticipation for how commissioner Cathy Engelbert would answer the most anticipated question of her pre-finals news conference in Las Vegas.

She had several days to think about the moment and exactly what she would say about Minnesota star Napheesa Collier’s eloquent yet calculated and vicious takedown of her leadership, which included accusations of dismissive comments about the league’s young superstars and the league’s players needing to be more grateful to Engelbert.

Engelbert was essentially faced with the very difficult choice of admitting a terrible mistake in what she thought was a private conversation and pleading for forgiveness or calling one of the league’s most respected and important players a liar.

She chose instead to try to thread the needle and do neither. It was tough to watch.

Blame game

Look, it’s usually a winning formula to just blame the media and the internet. (People should know that those targeting the media usually are very guilty and are just mad they were caught, but still, the masses distrust the media enough that it generally works.)

But, wow, was Engelbert throwing a Hail Mary, or more appropriately in this case, a half-court heave in response to a direct question about whether or not she said what she was accused of saying.

“There is a lot of inaccuracy out there through social media and all of this reporting,” she said, adding she wants to talk to Collier directly as if there is any good reason that hasn’t happened already. “Lots of reporting and lots of inaccuracy about what I said or didn’t say. I will tell you I highly respect the players. There is a lot of emotion and passion going on right now because we’re in collective bargaining and the WNBA Finals, so I’ll leave it there. I am obviously disheartened.”

Collier’s words weren’t filtered through an article or even disseminated through multiple layers of social media until they were morphed and twisted like some high-level game of telephone.

She said what she said. Loud and clear. And stood on it. And unlike the supposed leader of the league, she appeared genuine.

Many players have publicly backed up Collier and even added more fuel to the fire.

Yet Engelbert could offer little more than a flailing roundabout rebuttal that didn’t include a denial.

But Engelbert did have one extra ace up her sleeve. Because, you see, she felt obliged to point out she has a family and this has been a difficult time for them.

It certainly has.

Everyone wants to believe their parents or children are good at their job. It has to be jarring to find out so publicly they are incompetent.

But don’t hide behind them in an effort to deflect the heat. That’s weak.

Time to go

The good news is her family probably doesn’t have to worry about her being under this intense spotlight for much longer.

Do we really need to join the public chorus of those saying Engelbert needs to move on from the job, whether by choice or by force?

No, not really. That’s been obvious for some time and one more insignificant voice really doesn’t add anything to the conversation.

The question is when. Rumors have started to circulate that Engelbert will be out after this new collective bargaining agreement gets done, but how can she possibly oversee by far the most important labor deal in the league’s history when any shred of trust has been deteriorated?

The short answer is she can’t.

While the players hate to hear it, Engelbert is right that while unprecedented revenue is about to flow into the league, the new pact must thread the needle between a fair and significantly increased share going to the players and finding a way to make the newfound success sustainable.

But how can she be the one to deliver that message when the words attributed to her by Collier are still out there?

Can Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers and other young stars who have taken the league to unprecedented heights, along with the vets who laid the foundation, trust that balance is being fairly stuck when they believe the other party at the table believes they should simply be grateful for whatever they get?

The commissioner was eventually asked a follow-up question requesting her to directly confirm or deny whether she made the alleged comments about Clark, specifically.

She flatly denied making those comments.

So now Collier and her union cohorts will have to negotiate with someone who essentially, eventually, accused her of lying.

That doesn’t feel conducive to getting a deal done that is already a massive long shot to get wrapped up by the end-of-the-month deadline.

This should be a dream period for the WNBA with popularity at an all-time high and money finally flowing into the long-struggling product.

Instead, Engelbert is haunting that dream like a corporate Freddy Krueger.

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