Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham has been handed a $1,500 fine by the WNBA for her latest comments regarding the league’s referees, who she has been outspokenly critical of
Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham has been slapped with an additional $1,500 fine by the WNBA for her recent comments about referees.
The 28-year-old guard was already out $500 after a TikTok video showed her lip-syncing to words like “stupid,” “slow,” and “useless” in reference to game officials. Post-fine, she hit social media to wonder aloud why the league isn’t zeroing in on “more important things” happening right now.
Amidst a strange spate of sex toys being hurled onto courts during games, causing a mix of shock and irritation among players, Cunningham has called on fans to stop the disruptive antics. Now, the Fever standout disclosed on her ‘Show Me Something’ podcast with co-host West Wilson that the WNBA has issued her a second fine for post-penalty remarks, tripling the previous amount.
Cunningham shared on the podcast: “Well, the WNBA fined me for talking about the refs… Dude, they fined me $1500, I was like, this is just the beginning, you’re kidding.
She also explained to Wilson how she learned about the new fine, saying, “What happens is, they email our GM, she pulls me aside and goes ‘Come here, Soph, I have to talk to you.’ She just smiles and goes, ‘Hey, they’re going to fine you again.’
“I was like, ‘I even told them, I even credited them that their job was hard’, I did say that, and I said I would not be good at it. Like, look at the whole picture, what are we doing? Ughh!”
The remarks that landed Cunningham a hefty $1,500 penalty were aired on an earlier podcast episode, where she didn’t hold back about her genuine thoughts on WNBA officials while acknowledging she’d be terrible at their gig.
“If I were a ref, I know I would mess up all the time. Like, I’m not saying that your job is easy, but when it is a simple call right in front of your face multiple times, what are you doing? What are you doing?” she kicked off on last month’s premiere episode.
“They’re just so inconsistent, like that’s one thing. If you’re on the other team and you’re going to be fouling the s— out of me, cool. But let me do it to you.
“I think players across the league, and new fans across the country, are like, ‘What is going on with the refs?
“And I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’ And you fining me $500 is not going to do s—.”
Cunningham also hit up X to voice her shock at getting slapped with a fine for her TikTok clip last month, hinting that the WNBA has bigger fish to fry right now.
“I got fined $500 for this TikTok,” she posted with the video attached. “Idk (I don’t know) why this is funny to me… like ok you got it bud!
“Cause there’s not more important things to be worried about with our league right now.”
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