Sophie Cunningham doesn't believe the play on which she suffered her season-ending knee injury Sunday against the Connecticut Sun was dirty.
The Indiana Fever guard confirmed her torn MCL on the latest episode of her podcast, "Show Me Something," but she also made it clear that she has "nothing but love" for Sun guard Bria Hartley after she collided with Cunningham in the second quarter.
"I know Bria, and I'm actually really good friends with Bria, and I've been waiting to get on the pod so we could talk about this, because I did want to tweet it out. There was no ill intent," Cunningham said on Tuesday's podcast episode. "I think it was a basketball play. I was just in the wrong spot at the wrong time. She fell. There's no way that she'd go in there and potentially try to hurt me. I have nothing but love for Bria. I even, like, told my mom because she tweeted something — I was like, 'No, Mom, like I get it, but I promise you Bria and I are super cool and she would never try to hurt me.'
"Because there are some girls that I think might, but she wouldn't do that. ... I hope people stop giving Bria some heat because I don't think she meant to do that at all."
Hartley drove to the basket against Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell. Cunningham explained she was sliding in to play help-side defense. Hartley went up and passed the ball. But on her way down, she collided with Cunningham's leg.
Cunningham said she felt a pop in her right knee and immediately knew she was hurt. She eventually laid down along the baseline, where she clutched her knee in intense pain. When play stopped, she was attended to and then helped to the locker room.
The Fever went on to stage their largest comeback in franchise history and beat the Sun in overtime, but they lost Cunningham for the season.
Still, the seventh-year guard is maintaining a positive mindset.
"I'm just thankful to be where I'm at and be with the organization and the girls that I'm with," Cunningham said on Tuesday's episode, "because they have brought life and my love of basketball back. And, so, I'm really in weirdly good spirits."
Cunningham added: "I'm thankful to be where I'm at and thankful for the year that I got."
The Missouri product joined the Fever this season after six years with the Phoenix Mercury, who selected her No. 13 overall in the second round of the 2019 WNBA Draft.
She arrived in Indianapolis as part of a four-team trade between the Fever, Sun, Mercury and Dallas Wings in January.
In 30 games with the Fever this year, Cunningham shot 46.9% from the field and 43.2% from 3 — both single-season career highs — while averaging 8.6 points per game.
Cunningham notably defended Fever superstar Caitlin Clark with a flagrant 2 foul and subsequent viral melee in the final minute of a June 17 game against the Sun. Her social-media following and jersey sales have since ballooned. She has been outspoken about the league's inconsistent officiating, and fined multiple times for such comments, but she's continued to stay vocal, including on her podcast with co- host West Wilson, a cast member of the Bravo reality TV show "Summer House."
Cunningham now has 1.6 million followers on TikTok and 1.2 million followers on Instagram.
She is, however, the third Fever player to be ruled out for the year with a season-ending injury in 2025. Indiana point guards Aari McDonald and Sydney Colson both went down on Aug. 7 in a loss to the Mercury.
Clark hasn't played since July 15 because of a right groin issue, her fourth muscle injury of the season.
As for Cunningham, she said she's scheduled to have surgery on Friday.
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