The Athletic columnist goes hard in paint with scathing Sophie Cunningham criticism that demands Indiana exit

After the Indiana Fever were recently eliminated from the WNBA playoffs by the Las Vegas Aces, a sports writer believes Sophie Cunningham leaving the team could ultimately put them on the right track. While the Fever finished the season with a 28-16 record, that ultimately landed them at the 6 seed, and they were taken out by the Aces in three games. The season was dominated by off-the-court controversies, one of which involved Sophie Cunningham's comments about transgender athletes in women's sports.

Candace Buckner gave a blunt assessment of Cunningham's impact on the Fever, or lack thereof, in her column for The Athletic. Buckner believes the Fever would have to part ways with Cunningham to move forward.

“So if the Fever ever want to go back to being a basketball team again and follow the lead of rivals openly clashing with the forces trying to hijack their league, then Cunningham has to go.”

Buckner used hyperbole to muse about Cunningham's future if she led the team, given her performance throughout the season.

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“Go to Chicago, or Portland. Or maybe Toronto could use a 30-year-old unrestricted free agent who averages fewer than 8 points a game, while her latest TikTok videos are good for about 2 million views a pop. Or perhaps expansion Cleveland can take her in 2028, unless of course she hasn’t already dropped basketball entirely by then to become a professional UFC ring girl, or full-time finger-pointer.”

She also takes Cunningham to task on the specific personality traits that she believes were detrimental to the team's success.

“Cunningham is too combustible, her takes too turbulent to be paired with Caitlin Clark. On the same team, it’s just too much. Clark, by her presence alone, already can’t get through a season without being thrown into gutter debates that pit White against Black; hate that appears even in the DMs of her own teammates. Cunningham, with only a few words, introduced new divisions.”

Cunningham finished the season averaging 7.9 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 43 games played.