Satou Sabally's critique of WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert raises big questions about future scheduling

Phoenix Mercury star Satou Sabally has never been shy about speaking her mind, and she recently had some harsh words for WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert regarding the league's new schedule, which is seeing teams play a record 44 regular-season games in 2025. 

Following the Mercury's 89-77 loss to the Seattle Storm on Saturday, which concluded a stretch of nine games in 18 days for the team, Sabally was asked how helpful it would be to finally have some extra rest before they play again on Wednesday. She took the opportunity to call out Engelbert, and said it was "not really responsible" for her to add games to the schedule. 

Here are Sabally's full comments:

"I think this is a conversation that could also be important for the next CBA. Cathy [Englebert] added a lot of games, and for us as players, recovery is so important. We put our bodies on the line every single time. We had nine games in 18 days. That's not really responsible for a commissioner.

"Other teams have like three back-to-backs. There are a lot of things that we could clean up in terms of scheduling, but we persevered, and showed that we can do it. It's just something that, obviously, along the way over the course of a long season, that's really hard to do."

The current collective bargaining agreement allows for 44-game regular seasons, so Engelbert was well within her rights to increase the schedule. And while there's no question that nine games in 18 days is a difficult stretch, it's not unheard of in the NBA or WNBA. Scan through other teams' schedules for this season, and you'll note similar periods. Just for example, the Connecticut Sun will play eight games in 15 days later this month, while the Las Vegas Aces will play nine games in 18 days in August. 

But even though the Mercury are not dealing with a uniquely unfair set of circumstances, it is fair to zoom out and consider the WNBA's schedule, which has increased substantially in recent years from 36 games in 2022, to 40 games in 2023 and 2024 to 44 games this season. 

During that time, the overall length of the season has not significantly changed. Let's compare 2023 to 2025, two seasons in which there were no major international competitions that forced the league to adjust. In 2023, the season was 152 days long. The maximum length the 2025 season will be is 156 days. 

There may only be four more days in the 2025 season, but each team will play four more games. Naturally, that means fewer days off and less rest. 

The league decided to make the jump to 44 games, and expand the Finals to a best-of-seven series for the first time, for a number of reasons:

• As already noted, neither the FIBA Women's World Cup nor the Olympics are taking place this summer, which means the WNBA does not have to finish its season early or take a break.
• The addition of the league's first expansion team since 2008, the Golden State Valkyries.
• The "incredible demand for WNBA basketball" that Engelbert detailed in a press release in October 2024. These changes will "create more opportunities to watch the best players in the world compete at the highest level."

Sabally is a player representative for the Mercury with the WNBPA. If she's saying the schedule will be a "conversation that could also be important for the next CBA," we can safely assume that the players are making that a priority in the ongoing labor battle. 

WNBPA seeking 'transformational change' in new CBA

In October of 2024, the WNBPA announced its intention to opt out of the current CBA, which was originally set to expire in 2027, and will remain in effect through the end of the 2025 season. While bigger salaries are a key demand from the players, the "transformational change" they are seeking goes beyond paychecks. 

"We are ready to lead transformational change -- change that goes beyond women's sports and sets a precedent for something greater," WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike said in October. "Opting out isn't just about bigger paychecks -- it's about claiming our rightful share of the business we've built, improving working conditions, and securing a future where the success we create benefits today's players and the generations to come. We're not just asking for a CBA that reflects our value; we're demanding it, because we've earned it."

The schedule clearly falls under "working conditions," and it will be fascinating to see what sort of balance the two sides strike in the new CBA, which is expected to be in place prior to the 2026 season. If the players are going to demand -- and receive -- more money, the league isn't going to give up games in the process. 

Sabally's comments, and the upcoming CBA negotiations, raise multiple questions about the future of the league's schedule. 

How will the league schedule in international competition years?

The 2026 FIBA Women's World Cup will run from Sept. 4-13. In past World Cup years -- the most recent one was 2022 -- the WNBA has condensed the season to conclude before the tournament begins. It's one thing to do that when you're playing 36 regular season games, but 44? It's hard to see how the WNBA can maintain a 44-game schedule in 2026 -- let alone play even more games -- without moving up the start of the season or disregarding the World Cup. 

It's worth noting that FIBA has agreed to alter the World Cup schedule moving forward to avoid conflicting with the WNBA, and the 2030 event will begin in November. While the World Cup won't be an issue beyond 2026, the same is not true of the Olympics, which will always happen during the WNBA season. 

During Olympic years -- the next one is 2028 with Los Angeles hosting -- the WNBA has historically taken a break for about a month. The league will continue to do so, especially with Team USA on a historic gold medal streak that dates back to 1996. 

Again, the question arises: how do you cram in a 44-game schedule while also taking a month-long break? 

How will expansion impact the schedule?

The league expanded the schedule to 44 games this season in part because of the arrival of the Golden State Valkyries, the first expansion team since the Atlanta Dream in 2008. Next season, two more teams will join the mix -- the Toronto Tempo and a to-be-named Portland franchise. Looking further down the line, the league has maintained that it will grow to 16 teams by 2028. 

Currently, each team plays the other 12 teams three or four times, aside from the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky, who will meet five times this season. If the league adds teams without adding games, that will naturally decrease the number of times that certain teams can meet. 

To what extent does the league care about that? And to what extent would such changes affect competitive balance? Those are real questions to consider. 

Fever vs. Sky score: Indiana crushes Chicago without Caitlin Clark in first WNBA game at United Center

Jack Maloney

Will we ever see a major schedule overhaul? 

Perhaps the biggest long-term question is whether the league will ever expand the schedule beyond the mid-May to mid-October timeline. That would be the only way to make significant changes, but as things stand there are major obstacles in doing so.

First and foremost, a large number of players participate in overseas leagues, most of which are played from from October to April, give or take a few weeks. They do so in order to earn extra income, and in some cases their paycheck overseas is larger than the one they receive in the WNBA. 

Even if WNBA salaries rise in the new CBA, it's hard to imagine they'll make such a significant jump that it's no longer worth it for players to go overseas. In that case, the players would want to maintain their ability to play year-round. 

Another issue with potentially expanding beyond May to October is finding arena dates. Six teams currently share an arena with an NBA team, and NBA teams begin play in October. Add in hockey, college basketball and concerts, and the dates fill up fast. Just last season, we saw the Minnesota Timberwolves have to change the date of a preseason game because of a Minnesota Lynx playoff game. If the WNBA season expanded, those conflicts would only increase. 

The chances of such a seismic change in the upcoming CBA are low, but as the league continues to grow, it would not really be responsible to ignore the possibility.