Before this WNBA season began, it seemed like everybody was all-in on the Indiana Fever. Caitlin Clark was entering her second year, Stephanie White was brought in to coach and the team made multiple acquisitions that had the potential to push them towards the top of the league.
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Fast forward three months and what began as a quest for a championship has sadly morphed into a fight for survival. Yes, the Fever are 19-16 and in position to make the playoffs but the team has dealt with a comically long list of injuries that just won’t seem to stop.
Kelsey Mitchell, Aliyah Boston, Natasha Howard and Lexie Hull have played every game this year. The rest of the team has been wrecked. Clark hasn’t played in over a month due to a groin injury, with only 13 games to her name all season. Aari McDonald and Sydney Colson also suffered season-ending injuries on the same night less than two weeks ago.
The bad news just keeps coming, as Sophie Cunningham also went down with a torn MCL in Sunday’s game against the Connecticut Sun. Just as they’ve done all year though, the Fever kept fighting, eventually erasing a 21-point deficit to come back and get the win in overtime.
Cunningham spoke about the injury on the latest episode of her Show Me Something podcast, and though she was disappointed to be out for the year, she was still in a good frame of mind.
“I’m just thankful to be where I’m at and be with the organization and the girls that I’m with, because they have brought life and my love of basketball back, and so I really am in really good spirits,” she said.
Cunningham doesn’t put up the gaudiest stats, but she’s become a breakout star this year for her willingness to protect Caitlin Clark at all costs, and for her no-filter approach that has already caused her to be fined three times by the league office. Cunningham, however, does believe there are other forces are play that have forced a cursed fate on the Fever.
Is there an Indiana Fever birthday curse?
Cunningham isn’t necessarily going full conspiracy mode, but she did notice something strange about her injury.
“You wanna know what’s actually crazy though? Sydney had her birthday, the next day we played she completely tore her ACL and everything. It was my birthday, we played the next day, and then I hurt my knee.”
Ominously, Natasha Howard and Lexie Hull are two of the rare Fever players who have remained healthy all year, but they both have birthdays coming up on September 2 and September 13, respectively.
“We still have a couple more birthdays on our team,” Cunningham said, “and everyone’s like, ‘Do they play or do they not play?’ That’s a real question.”
The fact that the Fever are 19-16 while being hit so hard by the injury bug is incredible, but if they also have to overcome some sort of supernatural birthday demon, that might be asking a little much. Cunningham, McDonald and Colson are all out for the year, but the team hopes to get Clark back before the end of the regular season.
