Sophie Cunningham Disagrees That Women and Men Should Be Paid Equally
Sophie Cunningham is perhaps the most polarizing figure in the women's basketball world right now.
Not only did she quickly strike a solid friendship with superstar guard Caitlin Clark after being traded to the Indiana Fever last WNBA offseason, but Cunningham's gritty, hard-nosed playing style and her willingness to act as Clark's enforcer (which was something the Fever lacked during Clark's rookie 2024 campaign) further endeared her to the fan base.
But the way Cunningham acts on the court has also rubbed many non-Fever WNBA fans the wrong way. What's more, her brash and unapologetic personality, combined with some of her comments off the court, has raised eyebrows. One example of this is when Cunningham agreed that a group of eighth-grade male basketball players could beat a WNBA team, as discussed during a November 20 episode of her "Show Me Something" podcast.
When speaking about comments NBA player Michael Porter Jr. made in saying that an eighth-grade elite boys' basketball team could beat a WNBA team, Cunningham said, "This is my personal opinion. But if you are a professional football player, basketball player, really any sport... If you're in that elite level group, yeah, you should be able to beat the girls... If women are saying, 'He couldn't beat them,' yeah, he could. Any NBA star could beat a female in high school."
She later added, "If [the 8th graders] are future pros, it just depends how big they are. And the majority of the time, if they're going pro, unless you're a late bloomer, you're already pretty big. So I would say that that's probably true. It's probably true! I don't want to be unrealistic or delusional. Like, men are just stronger, bigger, athletic. They just are a different build. So if you put them up against females, yeah, they're gonna win."
While these comments irked many women's basketball fans, it wasn't the only controversial thing Cunningham has said of late.
Sophie Cunningham Revaels Her Honest Opinion About Gender Wage Gap
Cunningham was a guest on a December 1 episode of Caleb Pressley's Halftime Circus show, which is broadcast on X during halftime of ESPN's Monday Night Football.
At one point in the show, internet personality Glenny Balls was asked by Pressley, "Do you think men and women should be paid equally?"
After Glenny paused for a few seconds before answering, a behavior analyst on set asserted that he showed a stress response to being asked this. This prompted Cunningham (who was sitting next to Glenny and was dressed as an elephant) to say, "Why was that stressful?"
"The answer is yes," Glenny then responded.
"I would say no," Cunningham added with a straight face, showing she disagreed that men and women should be paid equally.
Glenny then turned to her and added, "But I don't think we're talking about fully basketball. Like, just life in general."
"I know. I agree," Cunningham said.
HALFTIME CIRCUS with @sophaller
— CALEB PRESSLEY (@calebpressley) December 2, 2025
Presented by @forthepeople https://t.co/LTOeGlyVpI
The show continued without Cunningham elaborating on this stance. But she made her opinion very clear with what she said.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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