WNBA insider slams narrative about Sophie Cunningham's teammates not defending Caitlin Clark out of 'jealousy'

Sophie Cunningham made quite the headlines after her heated altercation with the Connecticut Sun's Jacy Sheldon in the Indiana Fever's 88-71 win on Tuesday. Cunningham committed a hard foul on Sheldon, which resulted in the Fever guard being ejected from the game.

However, the foul was supposedly a retaliation to Sheldon poking Caitlin Clark in the eye. Many believe Cunningham clapped back with her own response after the Sun's players roughed up Clark throughout the game.

However, sports commentator Stacey King accused the Fever players of being jealous of Caitlin Clark. That's the only justification he could find for them not standing up for Clark in the game. He excluded Cunningham from this accusation, however.

On Friday, WNBA insider Sarah Spain reshared King's X post and slammed his narrative of other Fever players being jealous of Clark.

"Love u Stacey, but pls don't spread rumors about 'jealousy & hate' when this happens with other players, too. It just doesn't get sensationalized & spread the same way. Folks clearly not watching all the other games shouldn't make blanket statements about player behavior/motives," Spain wrote.

The Fever-Sun game started getting chippy with intense physicality being involved. Sheldon fouled Clark in the third quarter, which was followed by Marina Mabrey dropping the Fever guard on the floor. However, no one was ejected in that play. Following that incident, Sophie Cunningham fouled Sheldon in the fourth quarter.

After the Fever walked away with the win, the league announced that Cunningham would be fined for her flagrant 2 offense. They also upgraded Mabrey's foul to a flagrant 2, making the Sun star eligible for a fine as well.

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Sophie Cunningham seemingly mocks her late-game altercation with Jacy Sheldon

On Friday, Sophie Cunningham shared a video on her TikTok account seemingly mocking her late-game ejection and foul on Jacy Sheldon.

In the video, Cunningham can be seen syncing her lips to Selena Gomez's "Hands to Myself". Given that she fouled Sheldon by hugging her to pull her down, the song choice is quite ironic.

The Fever guard expressed her thoughts on the video in the post's caption.

"it’s a joke… the sound was too fitting! happy game day," she wrote.

Cunningham has become an important part of the Fever squad. She is averaging 6.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game while playing a bench role for her team.

Edited by Satagni Sikder