The Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham is taking aim at the WNBA and its players for “targeting” fellow Fever star Caitlin Clark for physical abuse after Clark suffered a throat punch by the Phoenix Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas in last week’s game.
Cunningham also mocked the Mercury’s DeWanna Bonner for being so upset over Cunningham’s finger-pointing routine.
“You see the videos of literally kneeing and cheapshotting [Clark] in the throat… they’re definitely targeting her and the league and the refs do nothing to protect her,” Cunningham, according to Fox Sports.
Cunningham added that she and most of her teammates did not realize that Thomas had smashed her fist into Clark’s neck last Wednesday until the videos started coming out.
“During real time last night, I did not see that happen. None of our team saw it happen because I promise you if we would have seen that happen, we would have had her back,” she insisted.
“Unfortunately, this type of shit happens every single game to her, and the league and the refs do absolutely nothing about it,” the Fever star added.
Cunningham also made waves on Wednesday when she accusedly pointed at the useless refs and Mercury player DeWanna Bonner.
The player was heard joking on a podcast that her technical foul was “the weakest thing I’ve ever seen in my life” and added she “didn’t say a word” and “all I was doing was literally pointing.”
“I couldn’t help myself. I could not. She was losing her s— and all I was doing was literally pointing,” Cunningham explained.
Cunningham also ripped the WNBA for leaving Clark off its commemorative league graphic (Cunningham herself is on that same poster).
“It is a joke. It is a joke,” Cunningham said. “And this is why [WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert] and the WNBA is getting lit up on social media because you are leaving out a generational [player], the best player to ever go through WNBA on this roster.”
She also said that the league is failing Clark and other Fever players.
“If they were smart, they would market the shit out of some of us. They don’t,” Cunningham exclaimed. “That should be Caitlin. That should be Kelsey Mitchell. That should be Aaliyah Boston. Like, why are we putting random players on there?”
“What we do makes no sense… Even the people they put on the commercials, like they could, if they’re really trying to make money, they are going to put people out there that first of all, people want to see, that people are going to bring attention to, and they just don’t. They just don’t. I don’t know what they think when all that happens,” she said.
After spending two years remaining mostly quiet about the abuse Clark is taking, Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White finally spoke up last week about how Clark is being mistreated on the floor.
“The fist in the throat is crazy. It’s crazy. It’s dangerous,” White said. “… When you have these things continue to happen time and time and time again, eventually it gets frustrating, but I thought those were just more egregious.”
Alyssa Thomas was initially given no foul after slamming her fist into Clark’s throat. But the day after the game, the WNBA finally did move to punish the Mercury player. But, perhaps adding insult to injury, the league gave Thomas a tiny one-game suspension.
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