The Indiana Fever are being publicly urged to part ways with Sophie Cunningham.
Candace Buckner of The Athletic, owned by the New York Times, is urging the WNBA franchise to part ways with the polarizing guard, who is on an expiring contract. The Fever fell to the Aces in the first round of the WNBA Playoffs last month.
“Cunningham is too combustible, her takes too turbulent to be paired with Caitlin Clark. On the same team, it’s just too much. Clark, by her presence alone, already can’t get through a season without being thrown into gutter debates that pit White against Black; hate that appears even in the DMs of her own teammates. Cunningham, with only a few words, introduced new divisions,” Buckner writes.
“Still, you’ve got to give it to her. She’s a smart businesswoman. She sensed the opportunity, the profitability that comes from standing in the jet stream of a superstar’s rise. She profited from the Tres Leches nickname fans gave her, Clark and Lexie Hull — the Fever’s three most prominent White players. She started a podcast following the dustup with Sheldon. Her X and TikTok accounts gained more than a million followers after the whole pointing thing. She held round cards and pointed at fans, again, while performing as a ring girl at UFC 329.”
The Fever, though, are hoping to re-sign the veteran guard, who was one of the league’s best 3-point shooters off the bench in 2026.
“(Sophie) is a really solid leader in the locker room … she brings levity, but also brings a lot of experience. She’s serious and is an important voice in our locker room when we need it, when we really need to lock in. She’s an unrestricted free agent, so we look forward to having those conversations. She had a really productive year, and we’ll see just where things take us,” Fever GM Amber Cox said.
It’ll be interesting to see, though, if the Fever actually commit to re-signing her.
