Cunningham bounces back with 2,000-point milestone after benching
Indiana Fever guard reaches career scoring milestone in win over Minnesota after limited minutes vs. Washington.
What to know
- Cunningham reached 2,000 career points in a 96-77 win over Minnesota after scoring zero points and playing just seven minutes in a loss to Washington two days earlier.
- Her reduced role followed podcast comments criticizing coach White's 2+ hour practice sessions as excessive; fans blamed the intensity for the team's 2025 injury problems.
- Coach White benched Cunningham after the critical comments, but praised her rebound performance Tuesday, suggesting the message landed.
- Cunningham's bouncebacks highlighted tensions between coaching philosophy (intensive preparation) and player concerns about load management heading into the playoff stretch.
The dispute Whether Cunningham's podcast critique of White's practice approach was constructive feedback or insubordination that warranted the benching and reduced playing time.
White's practice intensity is excessive and causing preventable injuries; it needs to be scaled back.
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“That is why people are getting injured in practice. Crummy coaches.”
Fever fan · Yahoo Sports article comments ↗
White's demanding practices serve a purpose for a young, inexperienced roster still learning to be professional; context matters.
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“Every Fever player has alluded to this since playing under White. Tbf, the raw talent on that team isn't where it needs to be so maybe she's trying to force/rep it into existence.”
Fever fan · Yahoo Sports article comments ↗
Cunningham's criticism of White was fair but came across poorly; her scoreless game against Washington validated the benching decision.
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“She Genuinely Sucks”
Social media critic · Yahoo Sports headline ↗
“I think that's kind of what I'm struggling with truthfully, is like: I love to practice. Truly, I love to practice. I love working hard, and I love what we do in practice. I just think the time—like, for me, why can't we do that in an hour 20 [minutes], or an hour 30? Why does it have to be 2 hours?”
Sophie Cunningham, Fever guard · No Hesitation podcast ↗ · Sep 17
Sophie Cunningham Indiana Fever guard
Stephanie White Indiana Fever head coach
How it unfolded 7 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlesposts
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7
Coach White praises Cunningham's rebound performance
After the win, Fever coach Stephanie White publicly praised Cunningham's play against Minnesota, expressing pride in how she responded after the benching and her critical podcast comments.
“Had to look at myself in the mirror…”
— Sophie Cunningham, Fever guard · source -
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White addresses rotation changes and Cunningham's reduced role
Coach Stephanie White was forced to publicly address questions about why Cunningham's playing time had been slashed, with her minutes bottoming out at seven against Washington.
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first by Yahoo Sports, 1d ago
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5
Cunningham scores 11 points, reaches 2,000-career milestone in Fever win
In Indiana's 96-77 win over Minnesota, Cunningham bounced back with 11 points on 50% shooting from three-point range. The eight-year veteran reached her 2,000th career point in the process, breaking out of a four-game cold spell.
1 more claim → -
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Social media critics pounce on Cunningham's scoreless outing
WNBA fans on social media heavily criticized Cunningham's performance against Washington, calling out her scoreless game and suggesting her podcast comments had backfired. Some questioned her value to the team.
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Cunningham benched with reduced minutes in loss to Mystics
Cunningham and Lexie Hull saw their playing time notably limited in Indiana's blowout loss to Washington. Cunningham appeared in only seven minutes and scored zero points, missing two shot attempts with a plus/minus of -11.
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1 outlet first by Sports Illustrated, 3d ago · read ↗
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- 1 day quiet
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2
Cunningham questions White's 2+ hour practice sessions on podcast
On her "No Hesitation" podcast, Cunningham aired concerns about the Fever's lengthy, intense practices, saying they often last 2-2.5 hours with full-court drills despite only four games remaining. She suggested the schedule could be condensed to 1 hour 20 minutes or 1 hour 30 minutes and raised load management concerns.
“Being traded up here to Indiana, we practice, man! Like, we practice, practice. We are still practicing for probably like two hours against guys full court, hard.”
— Sophie Cunningham -
2 outlets first by Sports Illustrated, 6d ago · also Yahoo Sports · read ↗
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Fever fans blame practice intensity for injury history
Cunningham's podcast comments sparked online backlash against White's coaching approach. Fans connected the demanding practices to the Fever's 2025 injury problems, including Caitlin Clark's ankle and groin injuries, Sydney Colson's torn ACL, Aari McDonald's broken foot, and Cunningham's own torn MCL.
“That is why people are getting injured in practice. Crummy coaches.”
— Fever fan (social media)
Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet
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first by Yahoo Sports, 1d ago · also Sporting News
1 more headline
- Sophie Cunningham’s “Kick Rocks” outfit turns heads at Fever home finale Sporting News · 12h ago
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first by Yahoo Sports, 3d ago · also Sporting News
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1 outlet Stephanie White explains what was ‘really good’ about Sophie Cunningham’s game in latest Fever win
first by Yahoo Sports, 20h ago
1 more headline
- ‘I could’ve had an attitude’ – Sophie Cunningham opens up about Fever adversity Yahoo Sports · 17h ago
and 7 smaller pieces