Sophie Cunningham Accuses WNBA of Failing to Protect Caitlin Clark, Slams League Marketing as 'a Joke'

Since the WNBA suspended Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas one game on June 27 following her on-court contact with Caitlin Clark's throat, the fallout inside Indiana's locker room has continued to build.

Fever guard Sophie Cunningham stepped in front of cameras this week and said flatly that Thomas was "definitely targeting" Clark and that the league and its referees have done nothing to stop it. Cunningham's comments were reported by Fox Sports.

"You see the videos of literally kneeing and cheapshotting her in the throat," Cunningham said. "They're definitely targeting her and the league and the refs do nothing to protect her."

She also said the timing of her own awareness matters. Cunningham told reporters that neither she nor most of her teammates saw the throat contact during the game itself, only afterward when video began circulating. "I promise you if we would have seen that happen, we would have had her back," she said.

On the Refs and the Pattern

Cunningham did not frame this as an isolated incident. "Unfortunately, this type of shit happens every single game to her, and the league and the refs do absolutely nothing about it," she said.

Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White, who had stayed largely quiet on the subject for two years, also spoke up last week. "The fist in the throat is crazy. It's crazy. It's dangerous," White said, adding that repeated incidents over time become "more egregious."

The strongest counterargument deserves a fair hearing: physical play is a feature of professional basketball, and not every contact that looks bad on slow-motion video is intentional or outside the rules. Officials in real time make judgment calls under conditions that TV replays do not replicate. The WNBA did issue a one-game suspension, which suggests the league's disciplinary process responded. The dispute is whether that response was proportionate, not whether the league acted at all.

Critics, including Cunningham and White, say one game is not a serious deterrent for conduct that endangered a player's airway. That's a measurable disagreement about proportionality, not a conspiracy.

The Marketing Dispute

Cunningham broadened her criticism to the WNBA's business decisions, specifically a commemorative league graphic that included Cunningham herself but left Clark off entirely.

"It is a joke. It is a joke," Cunningham said. She named WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert directly, saying the league is "getting lit up on social media because you are leaving out a generational player, the best player to ever go through WNBA."

Cunningham's case is straightforward: Clark is the league's most-watched draw by a significant margin, and excluding her from promotional material while including other players, including Cunningham, makes no commercial sense. "If they were smart, they would market the shit out of some of us," she said. "That should be Caitlin. That should be Kelsey Mitchell. That should be Aaliyah Boston."

The league has not publicly explained the omission.

The DeWanna Bonner Subplot

Separate from the Clark conversation, Cunningham addressed her technical foul during Wednesday's game, which stemmed from finger-pointing at Connecticut Sun guard DeWanna Bonner. Cunningham was unapologetic.

"I couldn't help myself. I could not. She was losing her s— and all I was doing was literally pointing," Cunningham said on a podcast, calling her technical "the weakest thing I've ever seen in my life."

Bonner's reaction to a pointed finger drawing a technical while a fist to Clark's throat drew one game is the kind of contrast that tends to stick in public memory. Cunningham appears fully aware of that.

What's Still Unresolved

The WNBA has not responded publicly to Cunningham's specific allegations about referee failure or the marketing graphic omission. Commissioner Engelbert has not made on-record comments addressing either point since the Thomas suspension was announced June 27. Whether the league will revisit its officiating directives for Clark or offer any explanation for the graphic remains an open question as Indiana continues its season.