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Fever's Sophie Cunningham Blames WNBA Media for 'Distraction
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham is dominating the headlines for everything other than basketball so far this month and now she's blaming the WNBA media for causing a "distraction."
“The WNBA media, all we ever do is cover everything except basketball,” Cunningham said to reporters at Gainbridge Fieldhouse before practice on Wednesday. “It’s like, ‘What are we doing?’ You can talk about other things; those are great stories; it shows fans who people are outside of the court, but I also think we (have to) keep the main thing the main thing.”
Her comments came after ESPN published an article in July where the Fever guard said she wanted to “protect young girls in the locker room” and that “they shouldn’t have to go against biological men” in regards to transgender athletes participating.
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She later doubled down on those comments a day later, saying it’s “common sense” to bar transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports. Cunningham added that the WNBA media has caused "so much distraction" from the game of basketball after her comments stole the headlines.
“There’s a lot to be said, and I’m just going to let people speak for themselves, but I want to get back to basketball,” Cunningham said. “It’s always been about basketball. That interview happened in February when I was asked a question, so I just want to make sure the focus stays where it should because people are playing at such a high level."
Indiana currently sits at No. 5 in the WNBA standings with a 19-11 record. Cunningham is averaging 9.3 points, good for fourth on the team, 2.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game coming off the bench in the majority of contests.
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