Sophie Cunningham says players are 'targeting' Caitlin Clark, mocks DeWanna Bonner amid pointing meme
Indiana Fever fan-favorite Sophie Cunningham made a blunt statement about Caitlin Clark's treatment in the WNBA by opposing players and referees on Saturday. The sports world is in an uproar after Phoenix Mercury star Alyssa Thomas punched Clark in the throat after a game on Wednesday, and referees did not call a foul.
Cunningham also spoke about her recent viral exchange with Mercury star DeWanna Bonner, saying Bonner was "losing her s---" because of how mad Cunningham's now-famous pointing gesture was making Bonner.
Cunningham first insisted players are "targeting" Clark.
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"You see the videos of literally kneeing and cheapshotting [Clark] in the throat... they're definitely targeting her and the league and the refs do nothing to protect her," Cunningham said on her podcast Saturday.
Cunningham also said she and her Fever teammates did not realize what Thomas had done to Clark, in real time.
"During real time last night, I did not see that happen," Cunningham said. "None of our team saw it happen because I promise you if we would have seen that happen, we would have had her back."
"Unfortunately, this type of [expletive] happens every single game to her and the league and the refs do absolutely nothing about it," Cunningham added.
Cunningham has also become a viral figure for a separate moment from the Fever-Mercury chaos, when she repeatedly pointed during an exchange with officials and Bonner on Wednesday.
The clip quickly became one of the WNBA’s biggest memes of the week, with Cunningham joking on the podcast that her technical foul was "the weakest thing I’ve ever seen in my life" and explaining that she "didn’t say a word" while "all I was doing was literally pointing."
WNBA GRAPHIC OMITTING CAITLIN CLARK SHOWS IDENTITY POLITICS STILL COME FIRST
"I couldn't help myself. I could not. She was losing her s--- and all I was doing was literally pointing," Cunningham said.
Cunningham also ripped the league’s promotion of Clark, criticizing the WNBA for leaving Clark off a commemorative league graphic while including Cunningham herself.
"It is a joke. It is a joke," Cunningham said. "And this is why Kathy and the WNBA is getting lit up on social media because you are leaving out a generational [player], the best player to ever go through WNBA on this roster."
Cunningham added that the league should be doing more to market Clark and other Fever players.
"If they were smart they would market this [expletive] out of some of us. They don't," Cunningham said. "That should be Caitlin. That should be Kelsey Mitchell. That should be Aaliyah Boston. Like, why are we putting random players on there? I'm one of them...
"What we do makes no sense... Even the people they put on the commercials, like they could, if they're really trying to make money, they are going to put people out there that first of all people want to see, that people are going to bring attention to, and they just don't. They just don't. I don't know what they think when all that happens."