‘Another Awful Season in the Books,’ ‘Embarrassed by 3rd Stringers’ — WNBA World Rips Sophie Cunningham As Fever Guard Goes Scoreless Again in Lynx Rout
· Yahoo Sports
Sophie Cunningham ended the Indiana Fever’s regular season on a rough note, going scoreless in a blowout loss against the Minnesota Lynx.
It was her third game without a point this season and her second in the Fever’s final three games, giving her critics another reason to target her.
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WNBA World Reacts As Sophie Cunningham Drops Another Goose Egg
Indiana entered Thursday with a chance to finish No. 5 instead of No. 6 in the WNBA regular-season standings, but Minnesota quickly took control at Target Center.
The Lynx raced out to a 32-13 lead after the first quarter and went into halftime up 62-32. They eventually won 86-66, handing Indiana its second loss in three games and sending the Fever into the playoffs as the No. 6 seed.
Cunningham struggled throughout her limited time on the floor. The 30-year-old played 16 minutes and finished with 0 points on 0-for-4 shooting. All 4 of her attempts came from 3-point range. She also recorded 2 rebounds, no assists, and 3 turnovers while finishing with a minus-20 plus-minus.
The performance was especially notable because Cunningham had just delivered one of her better games of the month against the same opponent.
She scored 11 points on 4-for-7 shooting, including 3-for-6 from deep, during Indiana’s 96-77 win over Minnesota on Tuesday. She played 29 minutes in that contest.
Two days later, she could not find the same rhythm.
Cunningham also went scoreless against the Washington Mystics on Sunday. She played only 7 minutes and missed both of her shots in Indiana’s 93-77 loss.
Her other 0-point outing came against the Dallas Wings on Aug. 20, when she went 0-for-4 in 15 minutes.
Cunningham has largely been an efficient outside shooter this season. She finished the regular season shooting 41.9% from long range, ranking among the league leaders in the category. She also averaged 7.9 points per game off the bench.
However, Cunningham has become one of the WNBA’s more outspoken players, regularly sharing her views on pressing off-court topics. That has made her a frequent target of online criticism, especially when her performances do not match expectations.
Her latest scoreless outing gave fans another chance to bring those two sides of her public profile together.
“Another awful season in the books for Sophie,” one fan wrote.
Another critic went even further, calling for the Fever to move on from the veteran guard:
“I say again, for many reasons: GET SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM OFF MY BASKETBALL TEAM.”
One X user highlighted her stat line and suggested it deserved attention:
“Sophie Cunningham scored 0 points in 15 minutes for the Fever tonight. In those 15 minutes, her +/- was -20. Thought I’d share these stats, since she wants us to talk about basketball now.”
Another fan shared a video of Cunningham losing the ball and mocked her performance against Minnesota:
“Sophie Cunningham out here getting embarrassed by 3rd stringers.”
One post also focused on Cunningham and Caitlin Clark struggling at the same time, noting that the pair combined for only 2 points and went 1-for-16 from the field.
The loss means Indiana will face the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces in the opening round of the playoffs.
For Cunningham, the challenge now is to put the rough regular-season finish behind her. Her shooting remains one of her biggest strengths, but the Fever will need more from their bench if they want to make a deep playoff run.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.