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The Indiana fever star, Sophie Cunningham, launched a WNBA jab and her referees on Saturday.
While talking with journalists about his fiery and physical defense of Caitlin Clark teammate on Tuesday against Connecticut Sun players, Cunningham called the League for “not protecting” Clark during the young WNBA race of the phenomenon.
The Indiana Sophie Cunningham fever guard (8) and the Connecticut Sun Jacy Sheldon (4) guard (4) fight in the second half in Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on June 17, 2025. (Trevor Ruszkowski/Imagn images)
Cunningham became a viral sensation during the last week after committing a hard foul on the Guard of the Sun Jacy Sheldon, who pushed Clark in the eye at the beginning of the game. There was a fight between teams with Cunningham in downtown Indiana. Cunningham, Sheldon and Sun Lindsay Allen’s guard were expelled from the game with about 40 seconds before the fever took home La Victoria.
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“During that, it was only part of the game. I think the referees had a lot to do with that. It was an accumulation for a couple of years of them, simply not protecting the star player from the WNBA,” Cunningham said. “At the end of the day, I’m going to protect my teammates. That’s what I do.”
The lack of equal protection for Clark by the referees has been one of the greatest criticisms of the WNBA since he entered the League last year.
Clark’s rookie year in 2024 included several controversial incidents in which Clark was grumpy by opposite players. Sometimes, the referees could not call a lack of indignation of fans.
This season, in a defeat against New York Liberty on May 24, Clark got in touch with Natasha Cloud in New York in the final game of the game. The referees did not call a foul, which led Clark to raise their hands in confusion, and she and Cunningham threw the referees when the game ended.
Indiana Sophie Cunningham fever guard (8) and Connecticut Sun Jacy Sheldon (4) fight fight in the second half of a WNBA basketball game in Indianapolis on June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
A repetition showed the cloud pushing his shoulder towards the moment the ball released. The fever had fallen by two, and one foul would have sent Clark to the free throw line with the opportunity to win the game.
Cunningham is taking the matter in his own hands to punish players who become too physical, in his opinion, with Clark. And Cunningham also seems to be maintaining the alert referees.
Who is Sophie Cunningham? Caitlin Clark’s new ‘bodyguard’ teammate
The former NBA star, Joakim Noah, who built a reputation as an “executor” during her career while protected a young Derrick Rose, told Pak Gazette Digital in September that he would urge the fever obtained by a player to protect Clark by 2025.
“If I were the owner of Indiana’s fever, a real executor would get it to protect it,” Noah told Pak Gazette Digital.
“Sometimes I feel that she is being beaten because she is a very talented person … but at the end of the day, we are in the business of winning games, so if I’m the owner [of the Indiana Fever]I am obtaining a true executor there. “
Who is Sophie Cunningham?
The Indiana fever guard, Sophie Cunningham, poses for a photo on May 17, 2025, before a game against the Chicago sky in Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on May 17, 2025. (Grace Smith/Imagn images through Indistar)
Cunningham has become a popular hero for many, and his popularity has shot himself in the days after the fight.
Before Tuesday’s game, Cunningham had less than 400,000 followers in Tiktok.
At the time of publication, it had 1.2 million in Tiktok, and that number is only growing.
She has an estimated increase of more than 300,000 followers on Instagram from the game too, with a total of more than 800,000 at the time of publication.
With Cunningham winning the nickname of “The Enforce” for fever, fans who have her to protect Caitlin Clark can rest calm knowing that it is a black belt in Taekwondo Korean martial art.
He obtained the black belt at the age of 6.
His father Jim played football at the University of Missouri, and ended up following the footsteps of his father in the football field.
TO 2014 article For Columbia Missourian, he reported that Cunningham was the first woman to score any point for the team in history, when he kicked two of four extra points instead of the regular kicker of the team, which had torn a LCA.
Cunningham even managed the starting tasks.
“I was so nervous,” Cunningham told The Outlet. “I mean, I had never played football before my life. Correct when I got the ball (at the opening inauguration), I couldn’t hear anything. I just put the ball and kicked it.”
Cunningham comes from a family of farmers and credits that education for the person who is today, according to Series of five -part characteristics by the University of Missouri.
“Much of our success goes back to what we learned here,” Cunningham said about working on the farm. “We loved going to the farm to help. We discovered how to work hard and work together. He made us a strong farm.”
