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Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham has never shown much interest in making friends around the WNBA, and it appears she's angered some of the league's new cities as well.
The day after the WNBA announced its next round of expansion would include Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia, Cunningham suggested players wouldn't be excited to travel to Ohio or Michigan to play their games, and both new host cities have fired back.
“It’s kind of a hard situation but man I don’t know how exciting people are to be going to Detroit or [Cleveland],” she said in a video shared via Yahoo Sports.
The city of Detroit quoted the video and shared some facts of its own from when the Shock played in Auburn Hills from 1998 to 2009.
“The last time we were home to a WNBA team (Detroit Shock) we ranked top five in attendance for five straight seasons, No. 1 in attendance for three straight seasons and set a single-game attendance record of 22,076 fans at Game 3 of the 2003 WNBA Finals,” they wrote via X. “Additionally more than 775,000 people were excited to come to Detroit for the 2024 NFL draft. Detroit is a sports town. We’re sure we’ll see the same excitement for the WNBA returning.”
Cleveland had a similar response, sharing a video of Cunningham's teammate, Caitlin Clark, talking up the city at the 2024 Final Four.
“Sophie, your teammate doesn’t seem to think Cleveland is too bad!” the post reads. “We’re proud to have been chosen to host a WNBA team and any player who comes here will feel that legendary passion Cleveland sports fans show our teams!”
Cleveland's official tourism account caught that Cunningham accidentally said Cincinnati and made sure to clarify in the comments as well, writing, “Sophie, Cleveland’s a bit different than Cincinnati…”
And, no offense to the Fever or their fans, but veteran sports reporter Jemele Hill, a Detroit native, needed to remind Cunningham where she currently plays.
“Sis, you play in Indiana,” she wrote. “No disrespect.”
The fans didn't have Cunningham's back, either.
“She acting like she didn’t just signup to play in Indiana,” wrote one Fever fan. “Detroit had one of the most supported teams in the W and invested heavily to rejoin the league…I love Sophie and the Fever, but this isn’t about you have a free vacation, it’s about growing the league.”
Cunningham and the Fever face the Minnesota Lynx Tuesday night in the Commissioner's Cup final.
