Sophie Cunningham Reveals DeWanna Bonner 'Beef' Over Fever Exit Comments
During an August 5 episode of the Show Me Something podcast, Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham got brutally honest about DeWanna Bonner's exit from the team, which came after she requested a trade and was ultimately waived after sitting out several games.
Cunningham was asked by her co-host, West Wilson, whether Bonner had offered an explanation to the Fever roster about what had gone down after it did. While the camera remained on Wilson, he responded by saying, "No? Not even privately? Yeah, I mean, okay. That's tough," thus suggesting that Cunningham was shaking her head in response to his initial question.
Cunningham then added, “I’m still rooting for her. Like, I want her to end her career and be happy. But I also think that, like, it’s okay to be professional about it, and like send a text to your teammates. Send a text saying and be like, 'Hey, love you guys.' Or you don't even have to say 'Love you guys', just be like, 'Hey, sorry this didn't work out, good luck.' You know what I mean? There’s a way to handle that, I think.”
Sophie giving some insight into the way Dewanna Bonner left the fever
— no⁴⁴ 🏳️🌈 (@worldchamp44) August 5, 2025
"not even privately?" (quote by the guy)
"send a text [...] there's a way to handle that" (Sophie) pic.twitter.com/7nJWcDVgDW
Cunningham and Bonner's "Beef" Continues After Fever vs. Mercury Game
The Fever and Mercury played each other on August 7, and there were several spicy moments between Bonner and Cunningham during the contest, including one point where they engaged in a brief shoving match.
The most recent episode of Cunningham's podcast was released on August 13. And at one point, she speaks about these exchanges with Bonner.
"There was some, maybe a little bit of beef because of our last podcast, with how I mentioned that some people could have handled situations [better]," Cunningham said. When Wilson asked whether she thinks this is because of what she said about Bonner in the previous podcast, Cunningham answered, "Hell yeah. 1,000%."
She later added, "I think that like, our teams don't really like each other anyway, just because of like, I don't know, just her leaving, some of those players used to be under our coaching staff, so there's just a lot there. But I could have been way meaner, right?"
"She didn't listen to the whole clip. She just saw the thing about, like, 'She could have handled it more professional.' Which, honestly, everything that has talked to me besides their team, [is like], 'Yeah, she could have.' But that team is just drama to me," Cunningham added. "I went home, and I started hitting some threes. And you know I was talking all s***. Oh god, it felt so good.
"I know we lost by 30, but I still got mine off," she concluded with a laugh.
Sophie Cunningham talking about how Phoenix wanted to pay her back because of the DeWanna comments on the last podcast.
— Ken Swift (@kenswift) August 13, 2025
Full Video Here: https://t.co/pdWMkhRq6F pic.twitter.com/1OFEdBR1ZM
It sounds like there's no love lost between Bonner and Cunningham. These two teams play each other again on September 2.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the Indiana Fever 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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