Indiana Fever Sixth Player of the Year candidate Sophie Cunningham sparked debate nationwide when a July 21 ESPN profile included comments on what she felt needed to be done to “protect women’s sports.”
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,'” she said. “I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
Days later, Cunningham doubled down on her stance.
“I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense,” she told local media. “And I think I’ll always believe in that. I think it’s really important to protect children, and that’s little girls who are also involved in that category. I stand on what I said.”
It didn’t take long for the conversation to get out of hand, with the White House releasing a statement, rallies being held outside of Fever games, and even her teammate Caitlin Clark taking heat for sidestepping a question about where she stands on transgender athletes participating in women’s sports.
Changing her tune?
Following the media storm, Cunningham is calling for the focus to be returned to basketball.
“I think the WNBA media, all we ever do is cover everything except basketball, and it’s like, what, like, what are we doing?” Cunningham asked at practice on Wednesday.
“There’s so much, like, you can talk about other things. I think those are great stories. I think It shows fans, you know, who people are outside of the court. But I also think we got to keep the main thing the main thing.”
Sophie Cunningham: “The WNBA media, all we ever do is cover everything except basketball … You can talk about other things, those are great stories, it shows fans who people outside of the court, but I think we gotta keep the main thing the main thing.”pic.twitter.com/AgVTTfHA43
— Underdog WNBA (@UnderdogWNBA) August 5, 2026
“YOU started talking about it.”
Fans on social media, however, are pointing out that the ditch was dug by Cunningham and Cunningham alone.
“When you made the main thing something else… And now you wanna go back to the old main thing that you helped distract others from. And cause harm to others. No this is the new main things now. Sadly I would’ve loved it if the main thing stayed the main thing,” one fan posted on X.
“Lmao right wingers favorite tactic. Start a problem, amplify it, then act confused when it blows up,” someone else added.
“She is the actual worst … no words,” another person wrote.
“YOU started talking about it. YOU made this a convo and now YOU want to run away. If YOU want to shut up and dribble than do that but don’t act like this didn’t all become the main conversation because of YOU,” one fan posted.
Cunningham said that although the profile was published recently, she was interviewed for it near the beginning of 2026.
“I just wasn’t making a statement to make a statement. Um, and so I was trying to clear the air. Um, and I did that and back in February. And so it is what it is. And like I said, we’re in the middle of the season.”
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.