Sophie Cunningham has dominated nationwide headlines for over a month following her comments against trans athletes’ eligibility in women’s sports.
On Friday night, it was her play on the hardwood that caught basketball fans’ attention. In a comfortable, 20-point win over the Connecticut Sun, Cunningham registered a single point off the bench, and fans weren’t all too pleased with her performance, to say the least.
Sophie Cunningham Faces Heat After Rough Shooting Night vs. the Sun
In 14 minutes of play, Cunningham dropped 1 point on 0-3 shooting from the field, along with 3 turnovers. Her single offensive contribution came from the charity stripe, and most of her damage was on the defensive end of the floor.
The WNBA world was livid as they expected more from a ‘Sixth Player of the Year’ candidate.
“Sophie Cunningham scored 1 point in 14 minutes for the Fever tonight. Thought I’d share these stats, since she wants us to talk about basketball now,” said one user, who has been sharing her stats on X each time she underperforms.
Sophie Cunningham scored 1 point in 14 minutes for the Fever tonight.
Thought I’d share these stats, since she wants us to talk about basketball now. https://t.co/zKbTzuLofR
— Matt (@nosoupforgeorge) August 29, 2026
This post alluded to Cunningham’s comments on August 5, “I’m going to let people just do the speaking for themselves, but for me, I want to get back to basketball. It’s always been about basketball.”
Another X user, while roasting her for her 1-point stat line, wrote, “If only this grifter could hit buckets as well as point fingers. She sucks.”
If only this grifter could hit buckets as well as point fingers.
She sucks….. https://t.co/9fNoXmyMpJ— Pushing The Limits With Brian Shapiro (@TheBrianShapiro) August 29, 2026
One WNBA observer pointed out that merely a day ago, the Fever created multiple posts to campaign for Cunningham to win the ‘Sixth Player of the Year’ award.
They wrote, “And the Fever has the nerve to create a 6POY for her,” which was followed by numerous crying laughing emojis.
And the fever has the nerve to create a 6POY for her 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 https://t.co/avoXMnHOWp
— The Sports Princess👸🏾 (@sportsprincesss) August 29, 2026
Another kept it simple and wrote, “Enes Kanter stats,” alluding to the fact that Kanter, who has also been in headlines since his WNBA Draft declaration, was never a star during his 11-year NBA stint.
Enes Kanter stats 🔥 https://t.co/y9Tuj4fqdB
— Soren (@soren_flyin) August 29, 2026
Last night’s game saw the Fever lead by 15 points at the end of the first half. It was never truly close as Indy ran away with the 111-91 win.
So, it wasn’t incumbent upon Cunningham to have a double-digit scoring night and shoot her usual, 44%+ blistering percentage from beyond the arc.
However, with the Fever making it very clear they want her to win an award for her bench role, scoring a single point certainly didn’t move the needle in her favor.
In fact, the current frontrunner for the ‘Sixth Player of the Year’ award is the Golden State Valkyries’ Janelle Salaün, who is averaging 12.9 points on 42.5% shooting from the field while holding her own on both ends of the floor against opposing bench units.
The Valkyries also hold a better record than the Fever in the standings (28-11 vs. 26-14).
With merely four games left for the Fever to play in this regular season, she would have to make quite the impression to make people forget about her 1-point performance and try to dethrone Salaün as the favorite for the award.
