Should Sophie Cunningham Replace Lexie Hull in the Fever's Starting Lineup?

The Indiana Fever should maybe consider swapping Lexie Hull with Sophie Cunningham in the starting lineup.

Indiana Fever guards Lexie Hull (10) and Sophie Cunningham (8) | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

With the WNBA All-Star break in the rearview mirror and the Indiana Fever's second-half slate starting against the Seattle Storm on Tuesday evening, now's a great time to assess what changes the Fever might want to make to optimize their chances of winning a championship.

One potential change would be replacing Lexie Hull with Sophie Cunningham in the Fever's starting lineup. After all, Cunningham (who has three starts this season) is playing some of the best basketball of her life and is having a better statistical season than Hull (who has started 24 of the Fever's 27 games).

While Cunningham already plays more minutes per game than Hull (22.9 compared to 20.1), replacing her in the starting lineup could be a way for the Fever to start stronger early in games.

This starting lineup shift might seem to make sense on the surface. But the cons of switching Cunningham and Hull's roles outweigh the pros, and here's why.

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) with guard Lexie Hull (10). | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Why Fever Should Keep Lexie Hull in Starting Lineup

First of all, those who have watched the Fever over the past few seasons know that Lexie Hull's impact can't be quantified by statistics. She's an elite defender, always seems to be in the right position, is an opportunistic and efficient scorer, and isn't afraid to put her body on the line to help her team win.

Those are invaluable traits. Not to mention that the Fever's starting lineup doesn't need any more offensive firepower, given that they have Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, and Kelsey Mitchell. Instead, they need somebody who can do the dirty work, guard the other team's best guard, and find other ways to contribute rather than scoring. That's exactly what Lexie Hull does, and is why she's a great fit for the starting lineup.

Sophie Cunningham does many of those things as well. But she also provides a scoring punch off the bench that Hull wouldn't necessarily be able to replicate. Plus, the Fever's historically good offense clearly has a good thing going, so why fix what isn't broken?

Statistics corroborate Hull's impact, as she's in many of the Fever's best five-player lineups this season, when it comes to their Net Rating.

Therefore, while a Fever starting lineup that includes Cunningham might attract a lot of attention, the team is almost surely better off keeping the status quo of having Hull start and Cunningham coming off the bench.