Calling Fever the ‘Cinderella’ Team, Sophie Cunningham Picks Between Mercury and Lynx to Face in WNBA Finals

What the Indiana Fever have been able to accomplish so far in the 2025 WNBA season, despite injuries to Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham, has been truly remarkable. Their attention now remains fixed on their semifinal matchup against the Las Vegas Aces. And  Cunningham boldly believes that the Aces will be the underdogs on the court.

Any team would have some level of intimidation going up against a juggernaut such as the Las Vegas Aces, led by reigning back-to-back WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson. But given the kind of performances the Fever have been unloading on their opponents, Cunningham sees no reason for the team to do anything different.

Cunningham thinks that the Fever are currently going through a bit of a fantasy movie phase where everything that could have gone wrong has already gone wrong. And their third act is just going to be a series of cinematic displays of strength.

“We are literally the Cinderella team right now,” Cunningham said on the Show Me Something podcast. “The pressure is all on them. We’re just f****** s*** up.”

Despite her enthusiastic cheerleading, this isn’t necessarily the case; a fact, Cunningham practically admitted in a moment of honesty about how strong a team the Aces really are.

“A lot of our staff wanted to play the Aces instead of Atlanta,” Cunningham had revealed on The Young Man and The Three just days agp. “I was like, ‘Hell no!'”  She noted that even if the Aces had an off-night, they were still a multiple-championship winning team with the reigning MVP on their side.

The Fever interestingly began their series against the Aces really well. They were able to storm into Las Vegas and steal Game 1. However, they dropped the following two games and are now on the brink of elimination.

Although the Fever is a much different team than they would be if fully healthy, their roster is still quite familiar with the Aces. The two teams faced each other thrice during the regular season. Indiana came out the victor in two of those matchups.

As far as their finals opponents are concerned, Cunningham does have a favorite opponent. But it’s not dependent on how strong or weak they are. Between the Minnesota Lynx and the Phoenix Mercury, she picked a team with her travelling convenience in mind.

“Honestly, I don’t care,” Cunningham revealed, adding, “I would say Minnesota because it’s closer and it’s in the same time zone.” But first, they must defeat the Aces, which at the moment does seem like a dreamy proposition at best.

Luckily for the Fever, Game 4 will be in Indiana, which will give them homecourt advantage. It won’t be easy, but it isn’t impossible to force a decisive Game 5. The highly anticipated battle will take place on Sunday, September 28 at 3 PM ET on ABC.