Sophie Cunningham says WNBA players are targeting Caitlin Clark on court

Indiana Fever fan favorite Sophie Cunningham issued a forthright statement Saturday regarding the treatment Caitlin Clark received from opposing players and referees in the WNBA. Phoenix Mercury star Alyssa Thomas created turmoil in the sports world when she punched Clark in the throat after Wednesday’s game and the referees did not call a foul.

Cunningham also talked about her recent viral exchange with Mercury star DeWanna Bonner, saying Bonner “lost it” because of how crazy Cunningham’s now-famous pointing gesture drove Bonner.

Cunningham first insisted that the players were “targeting” Clark.

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“You really see videos of kneeling and getting cheap [Clark] “He’s at the throat… they’re absolutely targeting him and the league, and the referees are doing nothing to protect him,” Cunningham said on his podcast Saturday.

Cunningham also said he and his Fever teammates didn’t understand what Thomas was doing to Clark in real time.

“I didn’t see this happen in real time last night,” Cunningham said. “None of our team saw this coming because I promise you if we had seen it coming we would have taken it back.”

“Unfortunately, this kind of [expletive] “This happens to him and the league every game, and the referees do absolutely nothing about it,” Cunningham added.

Cunningham also became a viral figure for a moment apart from the Fire-Mercury chaos, repeatedly pointing out during a meeting with officials and Bonner on Wednesday.

The clip quickly became one of the biggest memes of the week in the WNBA; Cunningham joked on the podcast that his technical foul was “the weakest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” explaining that he “didn’t say a word,” “all I did was literally point.”

WNBA CHART SHOWS CAITLIN CLARK SHOWS IDENTITY POLITICS STILL TOP

“I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t. She was losing her daughter and all I did was literally point,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham also slammed the league’s promotion of Clark, criticizing the WNBA for leaving Clark out of the commemorative league chart while including Cunningham.

“This is a joke. This is a joke,” Cunningham said. “That’s why Kathy and the WNBA are getting excited on social media, because you’re leaving out a generation-long debate. [player]”She’s the best player on this roster to come through the WNBA.”

Cunningham added that the league needs to do more to market Clark and other Fever players.

“If they were smart, they would market this” [expletive] Except for some of us. They don’t,” Cunningham said. “That must be Caitlin. This must be Kelsey Mitchell. This has to be Aaliyah Boston. Like why are we putting random players in there? I am one of them…

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Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham from Indiana Fever. (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)

“What we’re doing doesn’t make any sense… Even the people they put in the ads, it’s like if they’re really trying to make money, first of all, they’re going to put people in there that people want to see, that they’re going to get attention, but they don’t do that. They don’t. I don’t know what they were thinking when all this happened.”