There is no way anyone could silence Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham. She is happy to challenge just about anyone on the court. And off it, she takes a special interest in calling out nonsensical opinions, no matter who they belong to. The 29-year-old shooting guard has truly come into her own after being traded to the Fever from the Phoenix Mercury in January.
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Cunningham also hosts a podcast called Show Me Something, which is a highly entertaining look into the mind of a WNBA player. Most podcasts promise to give unfiltered opinions, but Cunningham doesn’t just talk the talk; she walks the walk.
Unfortunately for her, the WNBA hasn’t been a fan of her unfiltered expressions. The league office has fined her three times this year, once for a TikTok and twice for comments made on her podcast, which has only released six episodes so far.
Cunningham is not a fan of WNBA referees, either. And after her latest episode in which she defended teammate Lexie Hull, she’s expecting to lighten her wallet a bit more.
Hull has been rocking two black eyes lately after multiple hits to the head in recent games. And just as Cunningham defended teammate Caitlin Clark on the court this year, she’s now defending Hull off it.
“I think if I say the word ‘ref’ on this podcast, I’m gonna get fined, so I might as well just go balls to the wall,” Cunningham said. “What really pissed me off about last week were three things, and again I was high on meds, but it still triggered my hate for the refs.”
The seventh-year guard was the latest victim in the Fever’s non-stop injury train, as she tore her MCL in August and will miss the rest of the season. That’s the meds she is talking about. Even with the excuse of something doctor-prescribed, though, saying “hate for the refs” will almost certainly get her fined again.
The league clearly hasn’t been happy with Cunningham’s persistent comments, but nobody can accuse her of being dishonest. When referring to the incidents that injured her teammates, she didn’t blast everyone involved and was actually fair.
“They were playing Minnesota, which Minnesota is a great, great team, but I think that what is kinda getting out of hand is the refs are allowing it to be too physical, and then people can get away with certain stuff, and then that’s when emotions flare, and that’s when you see fights or people doing things that they probably shouldn’t be doing,” she said.
Cunningham then described the jump ball when Hull got hit with an elbow, and even then, she went out of her way to say something nice about the perpetrator. “After the play, [Kayla] McBride, who is a hell of a shooter, she’s been shooting the s*** out of it, she’s a great, great player, so I’m not going after her in any way,” she said.
“But she had an extra movement after the ball and just elbowed and nailed Lexie right in the f***** face. Like, too much, way too much, and it was bad. That should have been upgraded, because I know if that was anyone on our team, if it was me, probably because I talk s*** on here, and my reputation, they probably would have thrown me out. That’s not OK,” Cunningham added in protest.
Cunningham was fired up because of how tough Hull is. She described her as a “great teammate” and a “great person.” She even said the next time Hull got hit, against the Seattle Storm, it was an accident with nobody to blame.
Show Me Something co-host West Wilson thought that Cunningham would be fined not for what she said about Hull’s incidents, but about a foul that she believed should have been called on the LA Sparks’ Kelsey Plum. This was when she committed some Kelsey-on-Kelsey violence by grabbing the arm of Fever star Kelsey Mitchell.
“That’s your fine right there, Sophie,” Wilson said. “You just said, ‘You’re protecting all the other stars, how are you not protecting [Mitchell]’?”
Cunningham probably will be fined, but she continues to show why she’s become a fan favorite in Indiana. She’s willing to stick up for her teammates, even when it costs her, and even when her injury keeps her from being able to contribute on the court.
Over time, Cunningham will probably learn to phrase things a bit better to avoid opening her checkbook. But her point is valid about the state of refereeing and physicality in the WNBA.
The Fever are going to need every able-bodied player they can get, whether they have two black eyes or not. With just three games left on their schedule, they’re clinging to the final playoff spot by just a game over the Sparks.
