The Indiana Fever are fighting for playoff positioning with just weeks left in the regular season.
But Sophie Cunningham spent Wednesday’s media availability talking about something else entirely. She wanted reporters to know exactly how she feels about their priorities. The WNBA headlines have been dominated by the trans athletes debate that Cunningham’s comments on ESPN ignited late in July.
WNBA World Reacts to Sophie Cunningham’s Comments
Ahead of Thursday’s matchup with the Las Vegas Aces, Cunningham used her pregame media session to take direct aim at how outlets covering the league have handled the fallout from her comments on transgender athletes.
“The WNBA media, all we ever do is cover everything except basketball,” Cunningham told reporters. “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.”
These comments didn’t go down too well with the WNBA community, which torched the Fever star. One user wrote, “She caused this distraction. Shut up and dribble.”
She caused this distraction. Shut up and dribble https://t.co/yTgFtcaxI2
— NY 🗽 (@ddubxdo) August 5, 2026
Another user had an interesting theory behind Cunningham’s recent comments. The X user wrote, “She’s backpedaling now because Caitlin is fence-sitting and has been criticized for not supporting her views.”
For some context, Caitlin Clark has come under for refusing to get into the heated political debates surrounding transgender athletes’ involvement in women’s sports. She has also paid the price for it, as many have demanded that she take a side. But the Fever superstar has made it clear that her focus is on basketball and nothing else.
Another user didn’t hold back and claimed that Cunningham started all this controversy.
You made the comment
Doubled down on the comment
Publicly supported the protesters that showed up
Made time to take pictures with the protesters 3 straight gamesThis like setting a fire in your home and blaming the news for reporting that there is a fire in your home https://t.co/bETtn28gzR
— Future Of The Retro (@TraeK_) August 5, 2026
“You made the comment, Doubled down on the comment, Publicly supported the protesters that showed up, Made time to take pictures with the protesters 3 straight games. This like setting a fire in your home and blaming the news for reporting that there is a fire in your home,” they said.
If she’s upset with the WNBA media for covering things besides basketball, I’m curious why she agreed to do an ESPN cover story because nothing about her “success” is related to the basketball being played. https://t.co/0pySTBnP1Q
— #CIA agent (@terpswbbfan) August 5, 2026
“If she’s upset with the WNBA media for covering things besides basketball, I’m curious why she agreed to do an ESPN cover story because nothing about her “success” is related to the basketball being played,” another fan said.
For now, Cunningham has shown no indication she plans to change her approach, either in how she speaks to reporters or in how she addresses the ongoing debate around her original comments.
