Why Sophie Cunningham is the most-talked about athlete in the United States 

In January 2017, during the first month of a study abroad semester at the University of Missouri, I went along with a group of fellow international students for a taste of college basketball. It was a fairly typical experience, I guess. The fans were loud and committed. There was a brass band in the student section of the crowd, leading the chants with a bit too much enthusiasm for what a Brit is used to. Missouri’s women’s team beat visitors Texas A&M in a dramatic period of overtime. There was popcorn. 

For years, though, another thing from that January evening stood out: the performance of Missouri’s star shooting guard Sophie Cunningham, who grew up playing for the local high school and that night carried the team on her back. The announcer would put a particular emphasis on her name after each three-pointer and Cunningham ended up scoring 36 points as she led the Tigers to victory. 

It was an impressive showing but, as Missouri did not have a particularly big college programme, Cunningham was not exactly destined for greatness. Sure, she could, and did, head to the WNBA and forge a solid career. But as time passed, honestly, I did not expect to hear of Sophie Cunningham again.   

Over the past weeks, however, Cunningham has become the most talked about athlete in the United States. The WNBA has grown in prominence and popularity in recent years, fuelled by the superstardom of Caitlin Clark and her record-breaking college career. It is a success story, which also, as seen in the UK through the history-making Lionesses and progress of the Women’s Super League, has some pitfalls too: the wider the spotlight and exposure, the more star players are also vulnerable to online abuse and hate. 

But a wider spotlight is also an opportunity. Cunningham, who can be abrasive and confrontational in defence of her Indiana Fever team-mates, including the aforementioned Clark, experienced a huge viral moment in June and became a global meme after pointing a lingering finger at opponent DeWanna Bonner. A few weeks later, Cunningham appeared as a ring girl at UFC 329 at the invitation of Dana White. The contrast between the WNBA, which as the leading force in the growth of women’s sport in the US stands for inclusion and diversity, and the UFC, supported by Donald Trump and something of a MAGA stronghold as evidenced by literally staging a card on the White House lawn, is undeniable.

It was the publication of a lengthy ESPN profile of Cunningham and comments about transgender athletes, though, that led to her really blowing up. Cunningham’s comments – she said, in voicing her opposition to trans athletes participating in women’s sports, that she wants to “protect young girls” – chimed with the language of Trump, who signed an executive order days after the start of his second term that banned transgender women from competing in the female category. Cunningham’s comments were approved by the US government. Vice president JD Vance praised Cunningham for being “courageous” and “speaking her mind”. So much for telling athletes to “shut up and dribble”, as LeBron James was urged to do when he dared criticise Trump in 2018. 

The result is that the WNBA is now experiencing a culture war over trans athletes when there was previously no issue. There were no trans women playing in the WNBA, nor are there any playing college basketball in the NCAA due to Trump’s ban. But protests and counter-protests now take place before Indiana Fever’s matches, one side thanking Cunningham for speaking out and the other voicing its support for trans people. 

Of course, the story has been picked up and run with by those on the right of US politics. Out of nowhere, Fox News has discovered a feverish appetite for women’s basketball. Royce White, a former NBA flop and current Republican Senate candidate, has played to the crowd by announcing he now identifies as transgender and plans to enter the WNBA draft. Enes Kanter, the politically outspoken Turkish former NBA player who now goes by the name Enes Kanter Freedom after becoming an American citizen in 2021, also declared for the draft in a similar stunt. In response, the WNBA players’ association issued a statement on Friday insisting that while the league embraces “justice equity, diversity, and inclusion”, players will not be used as “political pawns”. 

But while Cunningham’s social media following has exploded – she is now the third-most followed player in the WNBA, with 3.7m – the discourse has spiralled out of her control, and is potentially seeping into other areas. On Saturday night, after an away game in Chicago, Cunningham was taken down in a hard foul by DiJonai Carrington, who was ejected from the game. Shortly after leaving the game, Carrington, who is Black, posted “white privilege" on social media. In response, Cunningham said: "This has nothing to do with race. Last year, I did the same thing and I got kicked out, and I deserved to be kicked out. There's no reason even to play that card." She went on to add: "I've never really spoken to her and have no beef with her, but I guess she has some pent-up stuff. So, get your [stuff] off. That's fine - I can take it."

Things then took a typically bizarre turn on social media when Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a Republican and former senior advisor in the Trump administration, weighed in with a post suggesting he would have had Carrington arrested for the foul if it had happened in his state, saying: "The WNBA knows better than to play games down here in Florida. Because I'll be charging people with assault." He then clarified on Sunday "assault and battery" after Fox News shared his threat.

Cunningham said last week that she “just wants to get back to basketball”. As the WNBA attempts to navigate this political landscape, it may be too late for that.  

Sophie Cunningham's comments have become a distraction in the WNBA (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) 

MUST READS

How Keely Hodgkinson’s ‘freak’ injury, tears and scars add intrigue to thrilling European showdown

The European Athletics Championships are underway in Birmingham and the women's 800m, featuring Keely Hodgkinson, is set to be the headline event of the week. It's been a frustrating outdoor season so far for the Olympic champion, but Flo Clifford hears why European gold and a shot at the world record would wash all her troubles away. 

Keely Hodgkinson returns to competition at the European Athletics Championships in an unusual position. After breaking the world indoor record over 800m in March, it looked as though the world was at her feet. But the Paris Olympic champion has had a distinctly stop-start outdoor season, troubled by a “freak” injury and dogged by bad luck, and has been beaten resoundingly, twice, by Switzerland’s breakout star Audrey Werro, the fastest woman in the world this year. With that in mind, does she still believe she is the best in the world, going into a major championships on home soil? On a video call with The Independent and other outlets, she smiles confidently as she says: “Yes, I still believe I’m very much capable of that. This is what I trained for, this is the exciting moment."

Eddie Hearn’s warning for rugby: ‘It’s so unambitious’

After signing Henry Pollock and Finn Russell, the Matchroom promoter and talent agent sits down with Harry Latham-Coyle to lay out his vision for rugby’s future.

An outspoken character like Eddie Hearn in English rugby union? It wasn’t likely to be long before the motormouth mind behind Matchroom said something to rankle the establishment.

When, last week, the promoter and talent agent was, in his words, “led down the path” of answering a question about Henry Pollock’s salary in a newspaper interview, he did not expect his typically honest response to draw such scrutiny. Not that declaring his first client in the sport should be a million-pound man worked against Hearn – nor, indeed, Pollock.

The Tour de France Femmes was a triumph – and the next step is obvious

Demi Vollering was a fitting winner of a memorable edition – but, Flo Clifford writes, the race could be bigger, better and bolder

After nine days of agonisingly close racing, with momentum swinging this way and that, this was a tour de force by the sport’s premier stage racer, the deserving first winner of a landmark second Tour de France Femmes title. “Impériale,” was the verdict on L’Equipe’s front page. It was a fitting end to a resounding success of a Tour – dramatic, cathartic, magnified by moments of individual virtuosity, and providing a welcome counterpoint to the one-sided nature of men’s cycling this decade. With the women’s peloton in rude health, a generational rivalry helming its most prestigious race and no shortage of drama or subplots, Rousse and ASO must capitalise on this moment.

MORE SPORTS STORIES

SPECIAL FEATURE  

England’s Alessia Russo: Why the next generation of Lionesses is under threat

Alessia Russo has had a fun summer, writes Lydia Spencer-Elliott. The Arsenal and England forward is still tanned and grinning from her best friend and fellow Lioness Ella Toone’s 35-person hen party in Ibiza, where guests included Georgia Stanway, Niamh Charles, Esme Morgan, Mary Earps, and Lauren Hemp. “It felt like half of the Women’s Super League was there,” she laughs, adding that one night they all took over the club with a rendition of Toone’s tip-toeing moves to Annie Lennox’s “Walking on Broken Glass”; a celebration that went viral after the squad beat Spain 3-1 on penalties to achieve their second history-making Euros win last summer. No bank holiday was granted – but pub gardens erupted regardless.

On a similarly sweaty Monday in July, it’s back to business. Russo beams through the screen on a Zoom call from her first day back at Arsenal, clad in the team’s black and orange training jersey, with her hair slicked back in a ponytail, fresh-faced and eager. “I’m kind of itching to get back,” she admits. That’s no surprise after last season, during which the club won the first-ever Women's Champions Cup and Russo scored 24 goals, provided eight assists, and was crowned Arsenal’s Player of the Season.

The 27-year-old might never have been able to play football if she weren’t born into a sporty family. Russo played her first match with her dad and brothers at four years old, and spent years knocking a ball around on the side of her local team’s pitch until she was old enough to join West Farleigh’s boys’ under seven’s team. Bearsted FC, where Russo played in both the boys’ and girls’ squads, followed. “I had an incredible grassroots experience,” she says. “But the girls’ team lacked funding, coaches and kits. It was definitely tougher.”

Over two decades on, the same problem persists.

Read more here

Alessia Russo was named Arsenal’s Player of the Season as they triumphed in last season’s Champions Cup (Getty)

Enjoying the Inside Sport newsletter?

What sporting debate or moment should we focus on next? Email me at jamie.braidwood@independent.co.uk – your voice helps shape this newsletter.

Join the conversation and follow us

Download our apps:

Please do not reply directly to this email

You are currently registered to receive The Independent's Inside Sport newsletter.

To unsubscribe from The Independent's Inside Sport newsletter, or to manage your email preferences please click here.

This e-mail was sent by Independent Digital News and Media Ltd, 14-18 Finsbury Square, London EC2A 1AH. Registered in England and Wales with company number 07320345

Read our privacy policy and cookie policy