Sophie Cunningham has been a target for weeks, and it got physical in Chicago.
The Indiana Fever guard took a shot to the face and neck on a fast break, went down hard, and the player who hit her walked to the locker room and fired off a social media post before the quarter was even over.
And what happened next tells you almost everything you need to know about the WNBA’s leftist, woke culture right now.
The Foul, the Fight, and the Post
With about two minutes left in the first quarter and the Sky leading 18-17, Cunningham broke free on a fast break with a clear path to the rim. Carrington caught up to her and struck her in the side of the head with her left arm as she went up for the layup.
The bucket counted, and Cunningham hit the ensuing free throw after officials upgraded the foul to a Flagrant 2 upon review.
Cunningham got up immediately, charged toward Carrington and pushed her as she was held back by a teammate. Blood was coming from her mouth. She was furious, and rightfully so.
The play was reviewed and upgraded to a Flagrant 2 after the referee said there was windup, impact and follow-through on the foul. Carrington was ejected.
Carrington stood mouth agape in disbelief as the official announced the ruling, then headed to the locker room. Cunningham smiled and clapped her hands after the announcement before teammate Mo Billings grabbed her by the shoulders and guided her back toward the bench.
But Carrington wasn’t done.
Shortly after, the Sky guard posted on Threads: “WHITE PRIVILEGE @indianafever.”
This was only Carrington’s fifth game playing with the Sky this season due to a left foot sprain that delayed her debut. She had been playing well before the ejection, having scored eight points in just four minutes coming off the bench.
OutKick founder Clay Travis didn’t hold back. Travis slammed Carrington for the foul and for her social media post, calling it “Blatant racism.” “She should be out of the league for the rest of the year,” Travis posted on X. “But it’s the WNBA so she will probably get a five year contract extension.”
The Athletic’s Indianapolis Colts insider James Boyd called Carrington a “completely unserious person.”
OutKick’s Bobby Burack wrote, “There sure is a lot of privilege in the WNBA and society. But it sure isn’t ‘white privilege.'”
Cunningham Shoots Back, and Stays Standing
After the game, which the Fever won 90-86, Cunningham addressed the post directly.
“I think the league is taking care of that,” Cunningham said. “This has nothing to do with race. Last year, I did the same thing and I got kicked out. And I deserved to be kicked out. There’s no reason even to play that card.”
That’s a player who knows the rules, owns her own history, and refuses to let someone else rewrite what just happened on the court.
“Clearly, I think it was like unnecessary,” Cunningham also said after the game. “I’ve never really spoken to her and have no beef with her, but I guess she has some pent-up stuff.”
Fever coach Stephanie White took a softer view of the play itself. “Look, it was a hard foul,” White said. “It did happen and I thought it was the right call. One of the things about [Carrington] is that she’s gonna play her butt off, man. She’s gonna compete. Nobody’s gonna go walking in for a layup. I don’t oppose the hard foul, but I also don’t think that she intentionally went for the neck.”
Carrington declined to comment after the game.
The Sky’s coach was asked about the Threads post. “I have to get back to you on that because I’m just now hearing about that,” he said. “So yeah, we’ll handle that.”
Why Cunningham Has Been a Target All Season
None of this happened in a vacuum. Cunningham has spent weeks in the league’s crosshairs after stating a position that most Americans hold without a second thought.
In an ESPN profile, Cunningham addressed the criticism directly: “I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,'” she told ESPN. “I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
She doubled down without flinching. “I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense,” she said. “And I think I’ll always believe in that. I think it’s really important to protect children, and that’s little girls who are also involved in that category. I stand on what I said.”
That’s not a complicated position. It’s the mainstream view shared by the overwhelming majority of Americans who support keeping women’s sports for biological women. But in the WNBA’s leftist, woke culture, stating that out loud makes a player a marked woman.
In an ESPN article published last month, Cunningham voiced support for barring transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s sports, which led to small protests and rallies outside Fever games in Seattle and Portland.
Before Saturday’s game, a rally was organized outside the United Center in Chicago by XX-XY Athletics, which bills itself as a brand “here to protect women’s sports and spaces.” In a news release, XX-XY said the rally was “in Support of Sophie Cunningham.”
Seattle Storm minority co-owner Celeste Keaton was previously fined and suspended for five games after confronting an XX-XY supporter who sat courtside during a game between the Storm and Fever. The league punished the owner for going after a fan. That’s how charged this situation has become.
In a memo to teams, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the league would have ongoing discussions about the issue of transgender participation in women’s basketball. “Ongoing discussions” is league-speak for not wanting to say what the science and common sense already make plain.
And none of that addresses what happened on the court Saturday. A player got smashed in the face and neck on a nationally televised game on ABC. The player who did it got ejected, went to her phone, and posted a racial accusation against the team she just fouled out of a game against.
Cunningham made the layup anyway. She clapped when Carrington walked off. And then she won the game.
The WNBA keeps telling fans to pay attention to the basketball. But the league’s own woke culture keeps making that impossible, and the players who just want to compete, like Cunningham, keep paying the price for it.
Caitlin Clark has driven major increases in WNBA attendance and television ratings since entering the league, and Cunningham has become one of the more recognizable players alongside her. The resentment toward both of them from certain corners of the league is real, and it didn’t start Saturday.
It’s worth asking whether the WNBA’s leadership is going to do anything serious about a player posting racial accusations about an opposing team from the locker room mid-game. Fans who just want to watch basketball are watching something else entirely.
Sources: Mediaite, Associated Press, ESPN, CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports, OutKick, Athlon Sports, Central Oregon Daily, Washington Times, Bleacher Report, XX-XY Athletics