WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert says she will retire at end of year

• Seven-year tenure included both growth and tumult

• Internal and external candidates are on league's radar

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert is retiring at the end of the year, bringing to a close her seven-plus years at the helm of the league and a stewardship that has been transformative and at times tumultuous.

Engelbert is the second-longest tenured WNBA president or commissioner, and she helped negotiate a lucrative collective bargaining agreement this past spring that resulted in the league's first set of million-dollar player salaries.