If you thought WNBA star Sophie Cunningham could give a rip about what people thought before, wait until you see her latest comments. She is apparently done caring. The shackles are off.
And an unchained Sophie is the absolute best version.
The Indiana Fever guard responded this week to a column in The Athletic by Candace Buckner that argued the team should cut ties with her in free agency, calling her “too combustible” and “too turbulent” to pair with Caitlin Clark.
"All because of Sophie Cunningham. This was the season when the Fever and even the whole Caitlin Clark experience took a backseat to a bench player with big opinions," Buckner wrote. "So if the Fever ever want to go back to being a basketball team again and follow the lead of rivals openly clashing with the forces trying to hijack their league, then Cunningham has to go."
It's always cute to hear a sports columnist, who has never been a competitive player at any notable level, snidely mock a role player on a professional team. Like, you understand that if you played one-on-one, Candace, that she'd absolutely smoke you, right? She'd probably smoke you as a columnist too, for that matter.
Buckner's racism here is subtle. But it's there. You can't have two *gasp* corn-fed Midwestern white girls on the same team. And you certainly can't have them on the same team when one of them dares to have ... brace yourself ... an opinion.
"Cunningham is too combustible, her takes too turbulent to be paired with Caitlin Clark. On the same team, it's just too much. Clark, by her presence alone, already can't get through a season without being thrown into gutter debates that pit white against black," Buckner added.
THEY WANT SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM GONE FOR DEFENDING WOMEN’S SPORTS. Candace Buckner at The Athletic says the Indiana Fever should move on from Cunningham because she’s “too combustible.” Her crime is saying biological women should compete against biological women, and that players should be grateful for the platform they have. That’s common sense. Even Martina Navratilova says Sophie didn’t say anything wrong. Sophie is the enforcer who protects Caitlin Clark on a floor that plays like a rugby pitch, and her jersey is one of the top sellers in the league. Break that up and you hurt the very thing filling WNBA arenas. Sophie should stay, and the column should go in the trash.
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) October 8, 2026
Embedded tweet continues:
... should be grateful for the platform they have. That’s common sense. Even Martina Navratilova says Sophie didn’t say anything wrong. Sophie is the enforcer who protects Caitlin Clark on a floor that plays like a rugby pitch, and her jersey is one of the top sellers in the league. Break that up and you hurt the very thing filling WNBA arenas. Sophie should stay, and the column should go in the trash.
On her “No Hesitation” podcast with Drew Hanlen, Cunningham dismissed the criticism outright. Some might say, without hesitation. (See what I did there?)
"I literally don't care what anyone says about me anymore because I've said this so many times: 'If you're going to live by the praise, you're going to die by the hate.' And the majority of these people have never picked up a ball in their life, and they're just thirsty to be relevant in some type of way," Cunningham said.
"No matter what anyone says to me, I'm going to continue to do me. I know what I bring to the table. It's not always in the stat sheet. And so, for you to, like, not say I'm effective or any of that, whatever, suck it."
Sophie Cunningham responds to the recent column that argued the Fever should not bring her back next season. "Whatever, suck it." https://t.co/b2suNi4gh8
— Jackson Thompson (@JackThompsonFOX) October 10, 2026
My gosh, pair that phrase with her finger-pointing meme and inject it directly into my veins.
Buckner is, in fact, thirsty. As are the rest of the haters in the league. They don't like that two of the most popular women in the sport right now (one for her generational shooting talent, and one because she doesn't take any flak and is popular on the socials) are white and straight.
Instead of embracing equality and integration, they would like the white players segregated.
By the way, "suck it" is a pretty effective response to the woke WNBA mob, or any of the lunatics on the left, for that matter, on any topic. You want criminal illegal aliens to be taken in without any consequences whatsoever and let them hang in the neighborhoods of the common folk?
Suck it.
We demand biological males be allowed in women's sports!
Suck it.
Well, Sophie kind of already addressed that in the same manner. That's why Buckner and the rest of the liberal groomers are so ticked off right now.
"I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I'm like, 'I never once said that,'" she said in an ESPN profile earlier in the season. "I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn't have to go against biological men."
She followed the criticism up with, "I said what I said. I think it's kind of common sense."
In other words, suck it.
Cunningham has become one of the clearest voices of reason in the WNBA by simply stating that young girls should not have to compete against biological males and refusing to apologize for it. Common sense is exactly what the league needs. What Indiana needs. What has sorely been lacking from a left-wing groupthink tank of lunacy that nobody ever watched until Caitlin and Sophie came along.