Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham gained a lot of publicity this week following her defense of Caitlin Clark on Tuesday night. The veteran WNBA bench player stepped in to defend Clark after she had her eye poked by Connecticut Sun guard Jacy Sheldon.
Sheldon and Cunningham were ejected following Cunningham’s takedown of the Sun’s guard.
Cunningham’s profile has exploded in popularity since, but her play on the court has not matched the fame.
Cunningham played 24 minutes during the Fever’s 88-77 loss Thursday night to the Golden State Valkyries in front of 18,064 fans at Chase Center. She went 3-of-7 shooting, all three-point attempts, in the defeat. Cunningham finished with nine points, six rebounds, and one assist.
Sophie Cunningham was the worst player for the Indiana Fever
Her defense wasn’t great, and she added no blocks or steals to her stat sheet. Overall, the 2019 second-round pick out of Missouri finished as a minus-14 on the court, which was tied with Fever guard Sydney Colson for the worst plus/minus on Indiana’s roster Thursday night.
Cunningham’s performance comes as WNBA fans claim they want to watch Fever games because of the six-foot-1, 165-pound bench player. Cunningham, 28, is averaging 6.4 points on 38.2% shooting, 4.3 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and .4 steals per game.
While Cunningham’s defense of Clark was admirable, her skills on the floor do not warrant WNBA All-Star votes, as some fans wish she could be. Frankly, it’s a bad look for the league that Cunningham can be in the top-25 in fan voting, given her production this season.
While Cunningham is good for ratings right now, the league needs to do a better job of promoting stars who can back up their play on the court.
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