Sophie Cunningham Shares 'Good News' Amid Indiana Fever Struggles

Indiana Fever standout Sophie Cunningham had an interesting perspective about her team's recent woes after losing to the Los Angeles Sparks.
Jun 22, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) during the first half of a WNBA basketball game against the Las Vegas Aces at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images
Jun 22, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) during the first half of a WNBA basketball game against the Las Vegas Aces at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images | Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images

There are not a lot of positives to be taken away from the Indiana Fever losing to the Los Angeles Sparks on June 26 by a score of 85-75. Head coach Stephanie White was clearly frustrated about her team's fourth-quarter collapse, and many fans on social media are upset at White.

In fact, June 26 was a brutal day for the Fever in general, given that news broke in the morning that star guard Caitlin Clark has suffered a groin injury, and there's no clear timeline for her return at this point.

However, Fever guard Sophie Cunningham offered some interesting perspective when asked about her team's attitude at this point in the season when speaking with the media after Thursday's loss.

"I think so far this season, we've had a lot of distractions, you can call it. Some injuries... But I think that's really good for us. Let's go through the adversity early, let's learn from it," Cunningham said, per Tony East's YouTube account.

"The good news is we're not gonna peak too early, so I mean that's a positive," Cunningham said. "It's not an excuse. Everyone's playing a back-to-back, everyone has this kind of rough schedule. For us, it's another opportunity tomorrow, and we've got to capitalize on it... We are circled on everybody's schedule. No one likes us, right? So everyone in our locker room, that's the only type of people that we have that we can lean on.

"We have got to stay disciplined, we have to stay focused, we need to get consistent, and we got to lean on each other. And I think we've kind of wavered on that," she added.

Time will tell whether the Fever can rebound from these early-season woes and whether Cunningham's "good news" sentiment comes true.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

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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