The WNBA has spawned another star, and I think it's safe to say that she is already outshining Caitlin Clark in many respects.
"Already" in that sentence is doing a lot of work, actually, because Sophie Cunningham is new to both basketball and the WNBA. She's been a professional basketball player since 2019, but until a month ago, this 30-year-old was not exactly a national phenom.
Now she is everywhere.
ATLANTA – Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham is signing autographs for a sea of screaming fans ahead of a matchup against the Atlanta Dream of Aug. 16.
"Sophie! Sophie! Sophie!" they shout, hanging over the railing at State Farm Arena with outstretched arms. Cunningham has a mountain of items waiting for her signiture. [sic] A jersey. A deflated basketball. A pair of her adidas Crazy Energy "Sophie Cunningham" PE shoes that sold out on July 24, the same day they debuted.
Cunningham's popularity has skyrocketed this season amid a national conversation about transgender athlete inclusion. The WNBA veteran made comments in a July ESPN story about "protecting women's sports" by banning transgender females from participating in leagues for girls and women. Since the interview was published, "Support Sophie Cunningham" demonstrations have become commonplace outside Fever games. Conversations surrounding Cunningham and the WNBA's policy regarding transgender athletes also intensified, prompting her to ask for the focus on the WNBA to return to basketball.
Sophie gained notoriety as the aggressive, quite-literally, defender of Caitlin Clark. When Clark's nasty opponents got physical on the court, as they so often do, Cunningham would deliver a message back to them without bothering to use her words.
She may have gone to Mizzou, but she is no Southern Belle; or should I say, she isn't what people think of when they imagine Southern Belles, who usually have a lot of steel just underneath that demure exterior.
The rally for @sophaller was a huge and positive success outside Scotiabank Arena tonight. Everyone stopped by to have their photo taken with our 6 Ft SOPHIE banner. Thanks to all the men and women who stopped by and showed their support to keep men out of womens sports. A huge… pic.twitter.com/q5yEBTbcLT
— April Hutchinson (@Lea_Christina4) August 19, 2026
The rally for @sophaller was a huge and positive success outside Scotiabank Arena tonight. Everyone stopped by to have their photo taken with our 6 Ft SOPHIE banner. Thanks to all the men and women who stopped by and showed their support to keep men out of womens sports. A huge thanks to the @TPSOperations for keeping us safe and the @TheTorontoSun for a wonderful interview. The game is still going and Wow what a game! 🏀@xx_xyathletics
Ps- No one kicked me out for wearing my common sense XX XY tshirt.
Cunningham's fame exploded, though, when she casually stated that she believes women's sports should feature...women. This is, of course, a controversial position in a league and fan base dominated by angry race-obsessed lesbians, and Cunningham supplanted Clark as the Emmanuel Goldstein for the Left.
Team Canada gold medalist April Hutchinson led the first Sophie Cunningham rally to take place outside of the United States on Tuesday, ahead of the Fever's game in Toronto. pic.twitter.com/Cvl1gbSNiU
— Jackson Thompson (@JackThompsonFOX) August 19, 2026
Now Cunningham has, quite accidentally, I believe, added another reason for the race communists to hate her: she's unselfconsciously patriotic.
Sophie Cunningham was the ONLY one from her whole team who stood with her hand over her heart during the National Anthem
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 18, 2026
The Atlanta Dreams didn’t even bother coming onto the court pic.twitter.com/kj8S0BVwjI
The WNBA is filled with angry and resentful women who are pissed off that they get paid half a million dollars a year to help a league lose money for two decades without being treated like they are Michael Jordan. And they apparently think that Colin Kaepernick is a role model; after all, he likened himself to a slave while begging to be brought back into the massa's house for one more season.
Cunningham's courage to state the obvious elevated her to equivalence in people's minds with Clark, but her patriotism and courage are vaulting her to superstar status that will likely eclipse Clark's own.
Dear “athletes” who somehow found the two-minute national anthem more exhausting than an entire professional basketball career,
— Glenn Reib (@GlennReib) August 19, 2026
Congratulations. You’ve perfected the art of looking like spoiled, ungrateful children cosplaying as adults. The country that poured concrete for your… pic.twitter.com/8TlfRrMN5H
Dear “athletes” who somehow found the two-minute national anthem more exhausting than an entire professional basketball career,
Congratulations. You’ve perfected the art of looking like spoiled, ungrateful children cosplaying as adults. The country that poured concrete for your arenas, bankrolled the leagues that print your paychecks, engineered the free speech that lets you tweet your little grievances from phones designed by Americans, and maintains the military that keeps the entire circus from collapsing into chaos…and you, ungrateful, little shits, can’t even manage the basic, non-optional-for-civilized-people act of standing there with a hand on your chest?
Sophie Cunningham did it. Alone. One grown woman in a sea of people who stood around like they’d just crash-landed from a country that doesn’t have an anthem. Meanwhile the Atlanta Dream pulled their usual disappearing act, hiding in the locker room like the anthem was a personal attack instead of a 90-second song. Bold strategy. Nothing screams “thank you for the multimillion-dollar platform” quite like needing a search party to locate the court while the music plays. It’s almost impressive how consistent the cowardice is.
You’ve collected the houses, the cars, the sponsorship money, the Instagram validation, the freedom to complain about America on American-made platforms…and still treat a simple gesture of respect like it’s some fascist demand. That’s not activism. That’s not depth. That’s just the most expensive toddler tantrum money can buy. You vacuum up every privilege this country hands out and then act offended when anyone notices you’re too fragile, or too performative...to acknowledge the source for two minutes. Sophie looked like a functional adult with a spine. The rest of you looked like entitled brats who think basic manners are optional once the checks clear.
How difficult is it to put a hand over your heart for the nation that lets you get paid to bounce a ball while the rest of the world watches? Apparently so difficult that most of you would rather look ridiculous than risk being seen as normal. Pathetic doesn’t even cover it.
Someone who still has standards, a functioning sense of gratitude, and absolute contempt for this ongoing clown show. Be a Sophia.
Clark stood out for any number of reasons, the biggest of which is that she's a talented athlete in a league filled with also-rans. You can put together a highlight reel of her on-court play and actually make it look exciting and not outright embarrassing, which for the WNBA is pretty impressive.
the enraged reaction to the initial Sophie Cunningham point
— TaraBull (@TaraBull) June 28, 2026
And a meme was bornpic.twitter.com/IFSL2ylHRL
But Cunningham has something that Clark, for all her talent, seems to lack so far: charisma and the kind of confidence that comes from being totally comfortable in her skin. From what I can gather, Cunningham has always had that quality — clips from her high school and college play are a delight to watch because she is a delight to watch — but the fact that she is firmly an adult at 30 probably helps as well.
Sophie Cunningham chants ‘USA’ in an Indianapolis country bar after a Fever win. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/I1n3yxXFIS
— johnny maga (@johnnymaga) August 16, 2026
Clark is 24, and while she has been a phenom, she is still growing into her role as a nationally recognized player and is still trying to fit into the WNBA. Perhaps Clark really has a problem honoring the flag, but my impression is that she just didn't want to stand out against her teammate, so she chose to stand there during the national anthem.
But Sophie? In Missouri, where she grew up, she learned to respect the flag and the anthem, even when you are surrounded by entitled brats. Especially when you are surrounded by race communists.
So, for the moment at least, Sophie has become America's sweetheart.
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