Indiana Fever On SI

Sophie Cunningham Shares How Fever Locker Room is Prepared for 'Good' Noise

Indiana Fever standout Sophie Cunningham got honest about her locker room expectations heading into the 2025 WNBA season.
Grant Young|
Jul 19, 2024; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Mercury player Sophie Cunningham participates skills challenge during the WNBA All-Star Skills Night at the Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Jul 19, 2024; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Mercury player Sophie Cunningham participates skills challenge during the WNBA All-Star Skills Night at the Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Indiana Fever were the most popular team in the WNBA by far during the 2024 season, which is owed to them drafting former Iowa Hawkeyes superstar Caitlin Clark in the 2024 WNBA Draft.

Indiana then parlayed this successful draft into one of their best seasons in nearly a decade, as they made the WNBA playoffs for the first time since 2016.

However, with this amount of popularity comes an added microscope on the team that can be uncomfortable for players to handle. But Fever offseason acquisition Sophie Cunningham conveyed that she isn't too worried about this negatively impacting the team during an April 7 interview with the New York Post.

“I think that’s why they brought in a lot of veterans who have that experience. And I’m not saying they have the experience of hundreds of millions of followers watching you, watching your every step, but I do feel like they brought an experience of how to gel in the locker room," Cunningham said when asked about the amount of attention Indiana has.

“When you are close knitted in the locker room and off the court, and you have that chemistry... it automatically transforms to that on the court, and you don’t have to worry about all the noise. And you know what I think? Noise is good when you have that many eyes.

"So, for me to go and be a part of a team that has a lot of eyes on it off court it’s going to be huge as well. But my focus is on court and winning ballgames and winning championships," she added.

The Fever's locker room equation is just one of the many fascinating storylines surrounding this team heading into their 2025 campaign.

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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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