Sophie Cunningham may not score a lot of points, grab a lot of rebounds or do much else on the court, but the Indiana Fever player has some good returns on four-time WNBA MVP and current league leader A’ja Wilson.
Appearing on the revised version of her podcast, Cunningham said she believed the WNBA applied a “double standard” by not sanctioning the Las Vegas Aces star for an incident with an Indiana Fever fan during the playoff series between the two.
Cunningham was penalized for a foul on Wilson in the fourth quarter of the Fever’s Game 2 win Tuesday, after which a fan stood up and pointed at Wilson, who left the court to confront the fan before several teammates pulled him away. Wilson received a technical foul but was not suspended or further punished.
The Fever bench player felt the situation could have played out differently if it wasn’t for Wilson.
“She’s like the LeBron James of our league, and so of course they’re not going to suspend her… Something should have happened,” Cunningham said Saturday. No hesitation with Drew Hanlen. “The two people that came off the bench to go on the field, that should have happened. I think there’s definitely a double standard.”
“She’s like the LeBron James of our league and so of course they’re not going to suspend her…we wanted her to play, I think that makes for good basketball.” — Sophie on A’ja Wilson’s scoring situation pic.twitter.com/sbizdXDtUK
— No HesiShow Show (@NoHesiShow) October 3, 2026
Cunningham added that she didn’t want Wilson to be evicted because the Fever “would have faced a lot of backlash,” especially if they had won.
“We’re shouting from the rooftops that we want equality, that we want to be treated like men, that we want all of this and we deserve all of these things, and we do, we deserve it,” Cunningham continued. “But if you ask all these fans to come – and you have new fans, who are real sports fans, and they come and do something that a sports fan would probably do if you were on the opposing team, and then you go and pick him up just because he pointed, saying you did something wrong? Grow up.”
While you could argue that Wilson perhaps deserved additional punishment, many NBA players have had run-ins with unruly fans. It’s not really a gender situation.
For her part, Wilson said the fan’s actions were “unacceptable” and apologized to her teammates for committing a technical foul. She returned in Game 3 to score 36 points and grab 10 rebounds, leading the Aces to a series victory and eliminating the Fever.
As for Cunningham, she finished the crucial third game with five points, two assists and one rebound. In three playoff games, she averaged 7.3 points and 1.3 rebounds. Even OutKick’s Dan Dakich admitted that she’s “not very good” and that the fever should leave her (and just about everyone besides Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell).
Gn sports
