Sophie Cunningham may be a veteran in the WNBA, but it wasn’t until this week that her jersey officially sold out.
While she may already have six seasons in the WNBA under her belt, she only found her true calling on Tuesday night – as Caitlin Clark’s ‘enforcer.’
Over the past four days, Cunningham, 28, has exploded into the spotlight after leaping to her Indiana Fever teammate and friend’s defense during a contentious clash against the Connecticut Sun. And now, everyone knows her name.
However, the Missouri native had already been a prominent figure in WNBA circles, having long played her part to help push women’s basketball to new heights – partly thanks to her glamorous tunnel outfits.
Cunningham has rarely shied away from making a statement, turning heads with her flashy gameday looks while juggling her on-court performances and role as an NBA analyst.
And it’s all in the name of growing women’s basketball.
Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever teammate Sophie Cunningham has exploded in popularity
The 28-year-old grabbed the Sun’s Jacy Sheldon in revenge for an attack on Clark
Cunningham has rarely shied away from making a statement, turning heads with her outfits
‘It’s so fun because our league has drawn so much more attention… (and) once you get people there, they fall in love with the game, but they also fall in love with who we are off the court,’ Cunningham told the Daily Mail in April.
‘I like to go out there, I like to be competitive. I like to be a little bit grimy, a little feisty. But off the court, I like to be girly. I like fashion. I think you can do both.’
And it was her feisty side that made headlines earlier this week, when her on-court grit thrust her into the spotlight.
Clark was prodded in the eye by Connecticut’s Jacy Sheldon, who had previously been caught in a heated exchange with the Fever guard, before being slammed to the floor by Marina Mabrey in a violent moment that sparked outrage.
Mabrey escaped with a mere technical, while Sheldon was handed a flagrant 1. But Cunningham wasn’t letting it slide.
With 46.1 seconds remaining in the game, Cunningham wrapped her arms around Sun guard Sheldon’s head and pulled her to the ground in an act of revenge after her foul on Clark.
Clark being targeted by rivals around the league was nothing new. The guard became a lightning rod for debates about race and sexuality and the gender pay gap in her rookie season. But what was a novelty was Cunningham’s retaliation.
Sure, Clark had been sent crashing to the floor by Chennedy Carter and caught in the eye by DiJonai Carrington last year, but never before had she had the backing of an enforcer. All that changed in the offseason.
Cunningham became Clark’s teammate in the offseason with the pair striking up a friendship
‘Off the court, I like to be girly,’ says Cunningham, who is known for her pre-game fits
Cunningham became teammates with Clark in February when she was traded to the Fever from the Phoenix Mercury in a deal that saw former No. 2 overall pick NaLyssa Smith leave Indiana for Dallas.
And from the offset she made a vow to the rest of the league: She’ll back Clark no matter what.
Or, as she put it, her job is to be Sabrina Carpenter to Clark, the WNBA’s Taylor Swift.
Carpenter opened for Swift on her Eras Tour, and Cunningham explained to the Daily Mail: ‘Taylor Swift, Caitlin Clark, they’re going to do their thing. They’re going to have all the eyes, they’re going to have anything you can ask for.
‘But I just said I’m going to be the Sabrina Carpenter in the corner, being her biggest supporter, doing whatever the team needs… she does a great job of making everyone else around her better. (But) in order to win, it really does take everybody.’
Cunningham added: ‘We’re not taking away from anything that she’s done. We want to help her. We want to all win. And I think, let her be the Taylor Swift and we’ll all be right there supporting.’
She insisted that she would pass on all she mined over six seasons at the Mercury alongside WNBA legends such as Diana Taurasi.
‘I’ve learned how to become a pro. I’ve learned what she does in order to be great,’ Cunningham said. ‘Caitlin is going to (get) there. But when you don’t have that experience, sometimes you need someone to kind of lean on. So I’m just going to be there for whatever she needs.’
Cunningham wrapped her arms around Sheldon’s head and pulling her to the ground
Cunningham compared her role to that of Sabrina Carpenter (R), who opened for Taylor Swift
Cuningham’s ability to hold her own should come as no surprise. She’s been mixing beauty and brawn since high school.
In addition to a budding basketball career, Cunningham was the kicker for the Rock Bridge high school football team, filling in during their playoff run after the starting kicker went down with an ACL injury.
She was even captured wearing her homecoming court sash over her football uniform.
Growing up in Columbia, Missouri, she also got her taekwondo black belt when she was only 6 years old.
The 6-foot-1 Cunningham was a standout for the Missouri Tigers, averaging 17 points and 5.4 rebounds across 129 collegiate games.
She went on to be selected by the Mercury as the 13th overall pick in the 2019 Draft, also working as an NBA analyst for the Suns during her time in Phoenix.
In May, it emerged that a senior team official had accused Josh Bartelstein, the married CEO of the Suns and Mercury, of having a relationship with Cunningham during her time in Phoenix. That was according to a lawsuit filed by Gene Traylor, the Suns’ director of security.
Bartelstein married his wife Sydney in 2022, while Cunningham joined the Fever in February following half a decade in Phoenix.
The Missouri native has been mixing beauty and brawn since high school
The blonde beauty was the kicker for the Rock Bridge high school football team
However, Cunningham categorically denied claims she had an affair with the married CEO, calling the allegations ‘untrue and extremely hurtful.’
After inking a $100,000 one-year deal with the Fever in February, Cunningham has amassed around $572,780 throughout her WNBA career. Yet, she could be set to rake in more off the court.
Since Tuesday’s bust-up, Cunningham’s social media popularity has rocketed. By Friday she had hit 1 million followers on TikTok – about a 700,000 increase – and added more than 244,000 newcomers on Instagram.
Her No. 8 jersey also flew off the shelves and, as of Friday, was listed as unavailable until July 8 on the team’s online store.
While Clark was already an established superstar in the WNBA and beyon, Cunningham firmly put herself in the public eye this week. And, as long as she’s around to protect her younger teammate, she’ll be sure to stay in it.
