Sophie Cunningham has once again been fined by the WNBA, this time for comments she made on the debut episode of her new podcast, Show Me Something. On Tuesday's episode, Cunningham revealed the league fined her $1,500 for her statements.
In the pilot episode of her podcast, the Fever guard and host West Wilson discussed her frustrations with WNBA officiating — a hot topic among players and coaches alike this season:
“If I was a ref, I know I would mess up all the time. Like, I’m not saying that your job is easy, but when it is a simple call right in front of your face multiple times, what are you doing? What are you doing?
They’re just so inconsistent, like that’s one thing. If you’re on the other team, and you’re going to be fouling the s*** out of me, cool. But let me do it to you.
I think players across the league, and new fans across the country are like, what is going on with the refs? And I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’ And you fining me $500 is not going to do s***."
Come Tuesday, Cunningham explained the process of fines in the league after revealing she was penalized for her comments.
"The WNBA fined me," said Cunningham. "Dude, they fined me $1,500. I was like 'What? This is just the beginning!"
"What happens is [the WNBA] emails our GM and she pulls me aside... and she just smiled and goes 'Hey, they’re gonna fine you again.' I even told them — I credited them that their job was hard! I did say that and I said that I would not be good at it. I did say that, like, look at the whole picture? What are we doing?"
This is not the first time Cunningham was fined for criticism of league officiating this season. In late July, Cunningham was fined for blasting WNBA officials in a TikTok video. In the clip, the 28-year-old appeared to be in a hotel room, lip syncing to a soundbite from singer Sabrina Carpenter's song "Manchild."
The audio sings, "Stupid or is it slow? Maybe it's useless." Cunningham pointed around the room with each adjective and wrote "@ some refs" over the clip.
She later shook off the disciplinary action after telling her audience of the $500 check she had to write for the WNBA.
"I got fined $500 for this TikTok. idk why this is funny to me," Cunningham wrote. "Like ok, you got it bud! Cause there’s not more important things to be worried about with our league right now."
Earlier this season, Fever head coach Stephanie White was also fined after making comments about league officiating.
Despite the absence of teammate Caitlin Clark since July 15, out with a groin injury, the Fever sit third in the Eastern Conference and fifth in the WNBA with a 17-12 record. While Cunningham continues to work on her podcast and social media content, she is averaging 8.0 points and 3.9 points for the Fever this season.
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