Sophie Cunningham Slams A’ja Wilson for Her ‘Double Standards’ in Video, Tells WNBA Star to ‘Grow Up’

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham said she felt the WNBA applied a “double standard” by not sanctioning Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson for an incident involving a fan during a first-round game between the Aces and Fever.

Cunningham was cautioned 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.

Wilson, who stepped forward to confront the fan as several Aces players ran to get her away, faced no additional discipline beyond the technical foul she received during the play.

“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 on Saturday’s episode of his podcast, the No hesitation with Drew Hanlen. “The two people that came off the bench to come on the field, that should have happened. I think there’s definitely a double standard.”

Cunningham added that she didn’t want Wilson to be kicked out of the game in part because she thinks Fever “would have gotten a lot of backlash because of that.”

“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 deserve it,” Cunningham said. “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 after him just for pointing the finger, saying you did something wrong? Grow up.”

Cunningham also said she felt the Aces benefited from an “A’ja whistle” after her Fever teammate Caitlin Clark apparently alluded to criticism of the officiating of the first-round series by previously reacting to a disparity in foul calls.

Wilson said that after Game 2, she considered the fans’ actions “unacceptable” and apologized to her teammates for using the technology. She bounced back in Game 3 by scoring 36 points and 10 rebounds as the Aces shook off the Fever.

She and the Aces have since advanced to the semifinals, where their series against the Golden State Valkyries begins Sunday at 4 p.m. ET.