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Unexpected Sophie Cunningham News Turns Heads on Wednesday originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The Indiana Fever knew the kind of player they were getting when they acquired Sophie Cunningham before the 2025 WNBA season.
The 2019 first-round draft pick has averaged 7.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists throughout her career. But what she offers goes far beyond the box score, and she showed it in a heated 88-71 win over the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday.
Cunningham was ejected in the final minute of the game after her hard foul on Connecticut’s Jacy Sheldon was upgraded to a flagrant 2. It was a response to Sheldon’s flagrant 1 foul on Fever star Caitlin Clark earlier in the game.
Cunningham earned an endearing nickname on social media for defending Clark, who also received rough treatment from the Sun’s Marina Mabrey during the game.
Fans did not stop there, though. The reaction to Cunningham’s actions in the Fever win, which helped book Indiana a spot in the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup final against the Minnesota Lynx, continued on Wednesday as her popularity skyrocketed overnight.
On the official WNBA store, operated by Fanatics, Cunningham’s jersey was sold out by Wednesday morning.
Youth replicas were still available, but all adult sizes were no longer listed as the demand for Cunningham jerseys overtook the supply. Fans reacted to the unexpected turn of events on social media.
“Just like that she became a favorite,” said a fan on X.
“Y’all can’t say that that fan base doesn’t put their money where their mouth is,” one response said.
“I tried to buy one this morning multiple sites are out of stock!!” a fan chimed in. “Love her.”
“Fever fans stand on business,” said another.
“The fans understood the assignment,” echoed a comment.
Despite playing in just six games and starting none of them, Cunningham is clearly becoming a fan favorite.
At the time of publishing, she had already gained more than 32,000 followers on Instagram on Wednesday, taking her over 500,000 total.
Related: New Video of Caitlin Clark, Marina Mabrey Shove Turning Heads
Related: Caitlin Clark’s New Teammate Reveals What Everyone Thinks About Indiana Fever
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 18, 2025, where it first appeared.
