WNBA punishes Sophie Cunningham for criticisms revolving around Paige Bueckers, officiating

Sophie Cunningham is once again in trouble with the WNBA, this time over comments she made about Paige Bueckers and league officials. Just one day after the Indiana Fever announced that Cunningham had suffered a season-ending MCL tear in her right knee, the guard revealed the WNBA issued her a fine.

“I’m now 3-for-3 on being fined by the WNBA,” she said on the most recent episode of her Show Me Something podcast. “…They didn’t like my comments on Paige Bueckers. I didn’t even say anything bad.”

The comments in question came during an Aug. 13 episode of her podcast where Cunningham discussed the Fever’s game the night before against the Dallas Wings. She claimed that Bueckers was getting favorable calls and that the game was not being officiating evenly.

“I love Paige to death, do not get me wrong,” Cunningham said. “I think she’s a hell of a player and would love to play with her one day. But those refs were giving her every freaking whistle last night. Like, you couldn’t touch her. That sh*t is so annoying to me. If you’re gonna do that, then give it to our guards. I just hate the inconsistency. …We know she’s a good rookie and she’s gonna get some whistles, but like, to get the treatment she got last night was crazy.”

As she alluded to, this marks the third time this season that Cunningham has been fined by the WNBA for her criticism of league officials. The first was a $500 fine for a TikTok she made in which she lip-synced to Sabrina Carpenter’s song “Manchild,” specifically the lyrics “Stupid. Or is it slow. Maybe it’s useless.” She wrote “@some refs” in the caption.

The second was a bit more expensive. Cunningham was fined $1,500 for her comments during the debut show of Show Me Something on July 28.

“If I was a ref, I know I would mess up all the time,” she said then. “Like, I’m not saying that your job is easy, but when it is a simple call in front of your face multiple times, what are you doing? What are you doing?”

It’s unclear exactly how much Sophie Cunningham was fined for the comments regarding Paige Bueckers. What is clear, however, is that she isn’t afraid to speak her mind when it comes to league officiating and has certainly paid the price for it.