Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham is spending most of her offseason trying to get her knee right after the MCL injury that shut her down, but she’s still been popping up here and there — and somehow, Caitlin Clark ends up in the conversation every time her name comes up.
Front Office Sports tossed Cunningham into a bunch of quick-hit questions, nothing serious, just goofy off-court stuff. One of them was about who she’d trust to run her social accounts. She didn’t even blink before throwing Clark straight under the bus.
“Oh, 1000% Caitlin Clark,” Cunningham said. “She is a sh*t starter. She would definitely start some stuff over there.”
The two didn’t finish the season together — both were knocked out early. Cunningham made it through 30 games before her MCL went, averaging 8.6 points, 3.5 boards, 1.2 assists, and a steal. Clark only got 13 games in because of a groin issue but still stuffed the stat sheet every night: 16.5 points, 5 rebounds, 8.8 assists, and 1.6 steals. Even without them, Indiana hung around long enough to reach the semifinals before bowing out to the Aces in five.
Now Cunningham’s sitting in free agency waiting to see where she’ll land, and Clark’s grinding through rehab with WNBA fans basically refreshing their feeds for any sign she’s close to coming back.
“You’re literally dumb as f**k”: Sophie Cunningham lashes out at Caitlin Clark haters
Cunningham’s been loud about protecting Clark — on the court, off the court, wherever — and last August she unloaded on people who kept trying to downplay Clark’s place in the league. She saved the rant for her “Show Me Something” podcast, and she didn’t sugarcoat anything.
“It literally pisses me off when people are like, ‘She’s not the face of the league.’ What?” Cunningham said. “There’s really good, well-known people in our league. I’m not discrediting them. We have a lot of badasses in our league. Hell yeah to that. I’m all for that.”
Then she doubled down: “But when people try to argue that she’s not the face of our league or our league would be where we’re at without her, you’re dumb as st. You’re literally dumb as fk.”
Clark’s influence hasn’t slowed down at all, even with the shortened season. Forbes named her the most powerful female athlete in the world, which somehow still undersells how much she’s moved the needle for women’s basketball the last two years.
For more basketball content, click on Hardwood Heroics. Sabel Reyes can be reached through sabelreyes22@gmail.com. Other websites under the Sports Heroics umbrella are Gridiron Heroics and Wisconsin Heroics.
Sabel has been working as a field reporter for People’s Television Network (PTV), mainly about the Philippine Basketball Association since 2016 and has been elevated to Executive Producer for sports in 2022. Aside from being on top of the Philippine sports scene, she is also a running enthusiast. You can also follow her on X at @SabelReyes2 and Instagram at @msabelreyes.
