INDIANAPOLIS — Sophie Cunningham said Friday she is keeping her attention on the Indiana Fever‘s four remaining regular-season games rather than the draft declarations of former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, in a wide-ranging interview with ESPN.
Cunningham said the Fever have the potential for a deep playoff run, and that spending her energy on the commotion would take away from the team.
“I’m gonna let them do them,” Cunningham said. “I’m just focused on the Fever and on our sport. I think we have four more games left. I’m trying to just really dial in and keep the main thing the main thing.”
Sophie Cunningham Points To Four Games Left
Kanter Freedom posted his intention to play in the WNBA on Aug. 7, and White followed. Both men said they identified as women when they announced, and both have declared for next year’s draft.
On Aug. 24, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press’s Doug Feinberg that neither man is eligible. The person did not give a reason. The WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement restricts the league to women and carries no more specific language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth. The league has not publicly addressed their eligibility.
Kanter Freedom was ejected from Indiana’s game at the Chicago Sky on Aug. 23 at Wintrust Arena. Sky guard Natasha Cloud scored inside with 1:22 left in the third quarter, then turned and walked toward the baseline, where Kanter Freedom was seated in a black shirt that read “WOMAN noun. adult human female.” Security and a handful of Sky players moved between them. The Fever won 113-90.
He has since filed a lawsuit arguing his First Amendment rights were violated. The Sky’s owner called the suit meritless.
White attended Indiana’s game against the Connecticut Sun on Aug. 28, a 111-91 home win.
Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White Not Eligible
Cunningham said in an ESPN article published July 21 that she supported restricting transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s sports.
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,'” Cunningham said in that article. “I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
Rallies for and against transgender inclusion formed at Fever games in the weeks that followed.
Over 39 games this season, Cunningham has averaged 8.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 22.7 minutes, with three starts. She has shot 43.4% from 3-point range on 145 attempts and 87.5% at the line.
Indiana is 26-14, first in the Eastern Conference and fifth in the league’s overall standings. The Fever return Sept. 18 at the Toronto Tempo, host the Washington Mystics on Sept. 20 and the Minnesota Lynx on Sept. 22, and close at Minnesota on Sept. 24. The playoffs begin Sept. 27.
