Carmelo Anthony says WNBA's next commissioner must prioritize safety: 'Protect the players'

The , in its 30th season, continues to set records in terms of viewership, attendance, engagement on digital platforms and more as the leagues growth trends even further upward by the year.

However, despite its popularity, the league faces controversy, including the murkiness surrounding sex reassignment eligibility and national anthem protests.

The good and the bad of the WNBA is what a new league commissioner will be dealing with next season, as commissioner Adam Silver and the WNBA Board of Governors will choose a new one with Cathy Engelbert retiring at the end of the 2026 calendar year.

He wont be in the running for the job, but Carmelo Anthony has enjoyed the rise of the "W," and knows what his first order of business would be if he took over as commissioner of the league.

"Im going to invest in the players," he replied when asked the exact question in a recent interview with OutKick. "You have to invest in the script. If you have no script, theres no movie, theres no film. You have to invest in the script, and the script in this case is the players.

"We have to protect the players. We have to protect them all across the board if we really want people to look at this league as the best womens league in the world. So, you have to be intentional with the players and the script. You have to tighten that and build that, and make them feel comfortable in the situation that theyre in."

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Anthony didnt elaborate on what exactly the players need to be protected from, but he did lead his way into wanting to hear exactly how players feel about anything.

"This is a partnership. Its not like, You work for me. No, we work together to build this. I want to hear everybody. I want to hear the good, the bad, the ugly," Anthony explained. "I want to hear where you guys want to go. I want to hear from the players because if I just come with my business acumen, I have a whole other vision for it.

"It has to be a collaborative situation. And thats why you see the NBA has grown like that once it became a collaborative season."

The good is over than 91 million unique viewers watching national broadcasts this season, which is more than double the prior seasons reach. There were also a total 3.8 million fans who attended games during the season, with a combined 212 sellouts and averaging attendance rising to 11,474 fans per game – a 21% hike from the previous WNBA high.

The bad and ugly, though, has been a long list in years past, but especially in this season.

Transgender athlete eligibility came a widespread debate after Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham publically opposed biological men competing in womens sports. It spilled over into Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, both ex-NBA players, declaring for the 2027 WNBA Draft citing the leagues rules.

While the leagues collective bargaining agreement saying, "only players who are women are eligible to play," Engelbert and the rest of the league have not provided a detailed definition of a woman, which is why those like Freedom and White continue to speak out.

That has spilled into on-court altercations, with Freedom being kicked out of a Chicago Sky-Fever game after Natasha Cloud confronted him at his baseline seat. Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton was suspended and fined by the league after a courtside confrontation where she threw expletives at two teenage fans supporting Cunningham during a game.

In these WNBA Finals, the Golden State Valkyries and Atlanta Dream have repeatedly walked off the court before the national anthem, drawing massive criticism considering the leagues traditional e