Sophie Cunningham injury: Family calls out WNBA, Bria Hartley following controversial collision vs. Sun

Sophie Cunningham‘s family in now coming to her defense after the Indiana Fever superstar was sent to the locker room early with a knee injury Sunday vs. the Conneticut Sun. Cunningham’s mother and sister both took to social media Sunday to blast the WNBA, its officials and the Sun guard Bria Hartley for her history of playing “out of control.”

The injury occurred when Hartley collided into Cunningham on a drive to the basket. Hartley seemingly fell onto the lower part of Cunningham’s right leg, causing the Fever star to immediately grab her knee before being helped to the Fever locker room.

Not long after the injury occurred, Cunningham’s sister Lindsey challenged the WNBA to “focus less on fining players for commenting on your poor officiating & more about hiring officials that are able to call a consistent game and protect your athletes. Pathetic. Praying for you .@sophaller.”

Cunningham’s mother, Paula, directed her ire at Hartley, describing her as “a disgruntled player having trouble everywhere she goes; she’s plain mean and plays out of control.”

Prayers up for Sophie Cunningham. Sophie’s sister Lindsey and mom Paula are calling out the league for fining players for calling out poor officiating instead of protecting players, and for Bria Hartley’s history as an out of control player. They won’t delete these tweets either. pic.twitter.com/q356U3htGz

— CaitlinFor3 (@CaitlinForThree) August 17, 2025

Cunningham has only missed five games this season. She missed the first two games of the year after suffering a right ankle injury in the Fever’s preseason finale. She re-aggravated her ankle injury on May 30 and missed three more games.

Cunningham is a fan favorite in Indiana. Her energy on the court and hilarious personality off it has endeared her to fans. Cunningham has also earned Indiana fans’ respect by never hesitating to defend Caitlin Clark from critics.

“It literally, like, pisses me off when people are like, ‘She’s not the face of the league,’” Cunningham said on her podcast, Show Me Something. “What? … There’s really good, well-known people in our league. I’m not discrediting them. We have a lot of badasses in our league. Like, hell yeah to that. I’m all for that.

“But when people try to argue that she’s not the face of our league or our league would be where we’re at without her, you’re dumb as s***. You’re literally dumb as f***.”

Now, Sophie Cunningham might be sitting next to Clark on the sidelines. Clark has been out with a groin injury since July 15.

Sophie Cunningham blasts WNBA refs over special treatment of Paige Bueckers

On her new podcast Show Me Something, Cunningham opened up about the Indiana Fever’s recent game against the Dallas Wings and star rookie Paige Bueckers on Tuesday night. It began fine as she just spoke on the defense that her team played on Bueckers in the 81-80 loss. But then it got a little more colorful.

“Like, I love Paige to death. Do not get me wrong. I think, like, again, she’s a hell of a player and would, like, love to play with her one day. But, those refs were giving her every freakin’ whistle last night,” Cunningham said last Wednesday. “Like, you literally couldn’t touch her, couldn’t touch her and that shit is so annoying to me. And, if you’re going to do that, then give it to our guards. Like, I just hate the inconsistency.”

Cunningham hasn’t been afraid to speak her thoughts, especially now that her presence online has grown. This just might be another instance where she hears from the league about it, considering the criticism of their officials.

— On3’s Grant Grubbs and Sam Gillenwater contributed to this report.