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The Indiana fever guard, Sophie Cunningham, approached the accusations that he had a sexual relationship with Phoenix Suns and the Phoenix Mercury CEO, Josh Bartelstein.
The accusation was mentioned in a lawsuit filed by the former Suns employee, Gene Traylor, who is demanding Suns Legacy Partners, LLC, for alleged discrimination, harassment and reprisals.
The lawsuit said Traylor told Bartelstein that another employee was spreading gossip on the married executive who had an adventure with Cunningham.
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The Indiana fever guard, Sophie Cunningham, reacts during the third quarter against the Brazilian national team in Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa, May 4, 2025. (Jeffrey Becker/Imagn images)
The former Mercury player issued a statement on Wednesday.
“The recent false accusations made against me for gene traylor, someone who I do not know and have never known to be clear, makes me clear, their statements are false and extremely harmful to me.”
“I am here to compete, play basketball at the highest level and win for my team and my fans, while inspiring other women who can do or be anything in which they once dream.
“For the media that reported this, I have always spoken the truth and I have been transparent with (a) press consultation. In this case it feels irresponsible that they never asked me for a comment about the accusation before several clickbait stories were printed.
The CEO of Phoenix Mercury and Phoenix Suns, Josh Bartelstein, during the first half of a game between Phoenix Mercury and the Seattle storm in Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona, May 17, 2025 (Joe Camporeale/Imagn images)
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“I will not let false gossip take me the most important for me, which is basketball, my support team and fans.”
The Suns denied the matter in a statement by the senior vice president of Stacey Mitch communications, qualifying it “completely false and morally representable.”
The team blamed the lawyer of Traylor, Sharee, Wright for including “lies shortages and manufactures in their complaints.”
Sophie Cunningham talks to members of the media in player 15 HQ in Phoenix on September 26, 2024. (Diannie Chavez/The Republic/USA Today Network through IMAGN images)
Wright described the declaration of the Suns as “not only defamatory” but an “act of open retaliation against protected legal defense.”
