Even though the Indiana Fever’s season has been over for days, Sophie Cunningham remains in the headlines.
Cunningham had a respectable season with the Fever, averaging 7.9 points per game on 41.9% shooting from the 3-point line. Although she was a valuable asset off the bench, she received plenty of criticism for various comments she made off the court.
For starters, Cunningham told ESPN that she wanted to “protect young girls in a locker room” with biological men. Her remarks about transgender inclusion in women’s sports led to outrage in the WNBA community. Just this month alone, Cunningham went viral for calling out A’ja Wilson on her podcast.
“Us women in sports yell from the rooftops that we want equality. We want to be treated by the men and we want all this stuff,” Cunningham said. “If you’re asking for all these fans to come [support] and you have real sports fans do something that a sports fan would probably do, we’re going to go for them just saying you fouled? Like grow up, what are we doing? We ask all these things and then once people come out and support us, we get mad and then its inappropriate.”
Candace Buckner of The Athletic ultimately believes the Fever should move on from Cunningham, a 2027 free agent, this upcoming offseason.
“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.”
Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images.
Unsurprisingly, this column from Buckner didn’t sit well with a portion of the WNBA community.
“All of this crap simply bc @sophaller was asked a question about biological men playing women’s sport and answered honestly…something most athletes & media are too cowardly to do,” former ESPN anchor Sage Steele replied. “There’s a lot of hatred in this article..so sad what sports media has become.”
“This could not be more inaccurate,” former ESPN star Linda Cohn wrote.
“You don’t have to like Sophie…You can absolutely think that she’s a distraction for the Fever and want her gone…But even still this article is completely UNHINGED,” one fan said.
“Lols no reason at all and will be a cheap contract for them. No responsibility placed on the coach who failed on stubbornness,” another fan commented.
“Well there are many reasons I think Indy should not bring Sophie back, this is absolutely not one of them,” a third fan wrote.
Are the Fever done with Sophie?
Fever general manager Amber Cox was asked if Cunningham’s off-court comments will impact their free agency plan. She shot down that narrative in a hurry.
“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,” Cox said. “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.”
Time will tell if the Fever want to keep Cunningham in their locker room.
