Sophie Cunningham Suffers Scary Knee Injury vs Sun Amid Hurt Fever Flurry
The Indiana Fever have been dealt a brutal hand when it comes to the injuries they have dealt with to this point in the 2025 WNBA season.
The most obvious example of this is with star guard Caitlin Clark, who has missed a majority of the season with various soft tissue injuries. Most recently, she has been sidelined for the past 13 contests (including the Fever's August 17 game against the Connecticut Sun) with a right groin injury.
But that's not the only injury that Indiana has had to reckon with. Point guards Aari McDonald and Sydney Colson both suffered season-ending injuries against the Phoenix Mercury on August 7 (a broken foot for McDonald and a torn ACL for Colson), and standout guard Sophie Cunningham missed a couple of games earlier in the year with an ankle issue.
And it appears that Cunningham has now suffered another injury on Sunday.
Sophie Cunningham Suffers Knee Injury Against Connecticut Sun
The Fever were at one point in the second quarter when Sun player Bria Hartley was driving to the paint while being guarded by Kelsey Mitchell. Sophie Cunningham came over to help on defense, prompting Hartley to pass the ball.
However, Hartley seemed to slip and fall while making the pass, and as she was going down, she seemed to partially land on Cunningham's right leg at around the knee area.
Cunningham immediately clutched her knee and hobbled around the baseline for a few moments before going to the ground, clearly in a lot of pain. A foul was called on the next possession, which prompted members of the Fever coaching staff and roster to run over to where Cunningham lay, surrounding her.
Cunningham was ultimately helped to the locker room before play resumed.
Sophie Cunningham heads to the locker room after this Hartley pass and crash on her right leg. Oh my god 💔 pic.twitter.com/ZTTPYnhkTs
— AK (@Sudharsan_AK10) August 17, 2025
It's much too early to speculate on the nature and severity of Cunningham's injury, and there hasn't been any update from the Fever other than that Cunningham did indeed suffer a knee injury and that she wouldn't be returning to the game, which was announced on the broadcast.
In addition to wishing Cunningham the best and that the injury isn't serious, one has to feel for the Fever right now, as they keep getting bitten by the injury bug as the 2025 regular season draws to a close. This has been a nightmare year for the team in many regards, and Cunningham potentially being out for an extended amount of time would only add to that.
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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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