Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham has defended herself from critics who believe the recent political attention she has received is affecting her play.
Cunningham has averaged 8.6 points over the 2026 WNBA season, playing a role in the Fever’s rotation as one of their primary three-and-D options off the bench.
Her stardom has far outstripped her production, especially over the last month, as she has become a political symbol in the battle against trans athletes in women’s sports.
Sophie Cunningham thinks her play has been unaffected despite political attention
Cunningham spoke to the media before the Fever’s Saturday evening game against the New York Liberty, where she told reporters to check her stats while dismissing the assertion that the political attention on the WNBA is a distraction.
“Look at my stats…I don’t know why people think this is such a big distraction… Great time to be a Fever”
Cunningham becoming the face of the anti-trans athletes movement while being in the WNBA is obviously going to have an impact, even if Cunningham isn’t directly protesting alongside her fans.
The Fever were in a purple patch of form over the last two weeks before their five-game win streak came to a halt with back-to-back losses on Friday and Saturday, first to the Wings and then to the Liberty.
Cunningham’s comments came before the Liberty game, but she did back up her words with 10 points, albeit in a loss and with a -9 plus/minus.
Sophie Cunningham’s stats since the political attention spike in late July
Cunningham made her stance against trans athletes in the WNBA prominent during an ESPN interview on July 21.
Her season stats have been noticeably worse since then, averaging 6.9 points in the 12 games the Fever have played since. While the team has had an 8-4 record in this stretch, Cunningham’s personal production has declined.
Her production in the 25 games before that was 9.4 points per game.
The only redeeming quality across both sets of stats is her efficiency, as Cunningham shot 43.7% from three before the comment and is shooting 47.2% from three since her fame exploded.
As long as the team is winning, nobody on the Fever will complain, but it might not be accurate to say Cunningham’s stats can be considered fine, given the visible downturn over this stretch.
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