Sophie Cunningham let her play do the talking Tuesday night, delivering a clutch shooting performance that helped the Indiana Fever clinch the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup – and quieted a wave of backlash in the process.
Cunningham dropped 13 points off the bench, connecting on 3-of-5 from deep in her sharpest shooting display of the season.
The performance helped the Fever take home a $500,000 prize pool and offered the perfect rebuttal to critics who had pounced on her earlier comments regarding potential WNBA expansion cities.
But Cunningham didn’t just win on the stat sheet. She’s also winning in the locker room – especially in her role as a vocal leader and fierce protector of sensation Caitlin Clark.
Cunningham vocal against expansion
In the days leading up to the Commissioner’s Cup title game, Cunningham made waves with her blunt take on league expansion.
“You want to listen to your players, too,” she said. “Where do they want to play? Where are they gonna get excited to play and draw fans? I do think that Miami would have been a great one … Nashville’s an amazing city. Kansas City, amazing opportunity. I don’t know how excited people are to be going to Detroit or Cincinnati.”
The remark set off a firestorm online, with fans from Michigan and Ohio calling her comments dismissive and elitist. Cunningham was slammed on social media. But she didn’t issue a retraction-she simply showed up on the court and delivered when it mattered most.
Her performance spoke volumes. Fans who had once doubted her were now rushing to applaud: “Let your Sophie Cunningham apologies be just as loud as your doubt and hate,” one post read.
“Sophie Cunningham saw all that dragging and took it personal,” wrote another.
A seasoned voice and leader
While Cunningham hasn’t had a career season statistically, her impact goes far beyond the box score. She has emerged as one of the most vocal leaders on a young Fever team, providing both accountability and protection – especially when it comes to guard Caitlin Clark, whose transition to the pros has been heavily scrutinized and, at times, physically intense.
Cunningham has been among the first to stand up for Clark, both in huddles and during games when things get chippy. Whether it’s delivering hard fouls of her own or pulling teammates away from brewing altercations, Cunningham has repeatedly shown that she’s willing to play enforcer if it means protecting her squad-especially the player at the center of the league’s spotlight.
That kind of support hasn’t gone unnoticed among fans or teammates. While Clark is learning the ropes, Cunningham’s toughness and willingness to speak out have helped create a more unified locker room-something she addressed just last week.
“We are circled on everybody’s schedule. No one likes us, right? So everyone in our locker room, that’s the only type of people that we have that we can lean on,” Cunningham said.
“We have got to stay disciplined, we have to stay focused, we need to get consistent, and we got to lean on each other. And I think we’ve kind of wavered on that. We have our own islands. As one of the leaders of the team, I got to do a better job of grouping people.”
Tuesday night’s victory over the Minnesota Lynx wasn’t just about a trophy or a prize pool. For Cunningham, it was about reclaiming the narrative and showing what leadership really looks like-both in performance and principle.
She may not be the team’s star, but Sophie Cunningham continues to prove her value to the Indiana Fever as a shooter, enforcer, and veteran voice of reason. And in the eyes of many, she’s not just defending the paint – she’s defending her team, her rookie, and her own reputation with every game she plays.
Read the full article here
