Sophie Cunningham Questions Stephanie White’s Fever Practice Approach

Sophie Cunningham shared interesting comments on the Indiana Fever's heavy practice load.

Sophie Cunningham speaks to a referee during an Indiana Fever game. | IMAGO / Icon Sportswire

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham shared an interesting take on how head coach Stephanie White manages their team's practice workload during an episode of her "No Hesitation" podcast that aired on Thursday.

"Being traded up here to Indiana, we practice, man! Like, we practice, practice. We are still practicing for probably like two hours against guys full court, hard. Yeah. And we have four more games left," Cunningham said.

"So, to each their own. Everyone has a different style. We have a very rookie team, too, who maybe they're learning how to be a pro, and so I can see both sides of it. But we're still practicing, like, two and a half hours, hard," Cunningham added.

This could explain a lot of the injuries from last season. Someone should speak to Stephanie White about all this “practice.”

Especially since Indiana is not even a top 4 seed with all this “practice” pic.twitter.com/IKZjvO6JFZ

— X coach anderson X (@coachandere6xa) September 17, 2026

Cunningham's co-host, Drew Hanlen, was later speaking about the value of players playing through soreness and small injuries because then their body gets accustomed to doing so.

"That has to be our coach's mentality, because holy s***!" Cunningham replied.

"I love her to death, trust me. And I think we are prepared, we are in shape, we are in rhythm, our chemistry is great right now. And so, I get where she's coming from. But... I also think there's something to be said, too, of load management. Because as a player, you also want to feel healthy, and refreshed, and ready to go when it matters. You know what I mean?" she added.

"I think that's kind of what I'm struggling with, truthfully, is like: I love to practice. Truly, I love to practice. I love working hard, and I love what we do in practice. I just think the time—like, for me, why can't we do that in an hour 20 [minutes], or an hour 30? Why does it have to be 2 hours?" Cunningham continued.

Sophie Cunningham's Stance on Fever Practices Will Frustrate Fans

These comments have already been circulating social media, and Fever fans are expressing their frustration with how tough White is apparently running her practices.

As Cunningham and Hanlen alluded to, many modern professional basketball coaches prefer to not run hard practices in order to rest their players' bodies throughout the course of a long and grueling season.

White doesn't seem to take that approach. And this is going to raise eyebrows, especially after the team dealt with so many injuries last season (most notably to star guard Caitlin Clark).

Granted, the Fever have remained relatively healthy this season. But the key is that the team is still feeling its best physically heading into the postseason. And Cunningham's comments will made many wonder whether that's truly the case.