Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham isn’t an overt MAGA supporter, but she’s already been labeled as that and worse by the WNBA’s woke fanbase. Her primary sin: she thinks biological males shouldn’t compete in women’s sports. It’s a no-brainer position, one that 70-plus percent of Americans support. She also visited a country bar in Indianapolis, where she sang the late Toby Keith’s Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue and sparked ‘USA’ chants after the Fever defeated the Atlanta Dream in overtime.
It was awesome, so yeah, Cunningham is leaning into the ‘MAGA Barbie’ moniker the Left has slapped on her. She’s now saying that Commissioner Cathy Engelbert could be gone by the end of the year. That’s not new, as many have noted that Cathy has lost control of the league. The meeting this month to define what a woman is, a shambolic PR stunt that went nowhere, seems to have sealed her fate. It’s a brazen stance to take, calling out the commissioner and saying she’ll be out of a job soon (via USA Today):
Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham suggested that WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert could be OUT as commissioner by the END of the year after the organization FAILED to define what a woman is.
— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) August 20, 2026
“You do have to have a person in power who is bold, who is confident, who wants the… pic.twitter.com/aknAZye9G8
When USA TODAY spoke to Cunningham, she acknowledged WNBA leadership and the league have been under a high amount of scrutiny this season and the spotlight has only intensified as the debate around transgender athletes continues.
Cunningham said anyone in a position of power has a challenging job, but she believes new leadership might help the WNBA. She said the league is evolving, and as players have an opportunity to be "trailblazers of what women's leagues can look like," it needs leaders who support the growth.
"You do have to have a person in power who is bold, who is confident, who wants the best for the players and not maybe for themselves all the time. So I do feel like, as a whole, that could be a position that's maybe open at the end of the year, but that's not my call," Cunningham said. "(Cathy Engelbert's) done a lot of good things, but with where our league is trying to go, I feel like you just want someone who also wants that. That's just a hard position to be in, in her shoes, us as players ― we always want more, more, more because we see how good it can be, but ... that's up to Adam Silver at the end of the day."
And she might need to; he’s already done so this season after Caitlin Clark was punched in the throat by Phoenix Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas, who wasn’t going to be suspended until Silver intervened. Engelbert can’t do the job, and canceling media appearances because she would face tough questions is just another sign that someone else needs to be there. These statements also don’t help. This isn’t a hard issue to handle, ladies. What are you doing?
"The WNBPA represents 200+ individual people with different lived experiences, cultures, lifestyles, and opinions. We embrace justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion," the players' union said. "Hate, abuse, and demonization of any person or group of people, including transgender people, only fuel fear, division, and harm. We will continue to have hard conversations. But we will not be used as political pawns."
For it's part, the WNBA said this after after a meeting with team representatives on Aug. 12: "We will approach these important conversations thoughtfully and in alignment with the values of our league. There are no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA, and we strongly denounce the bad-faith efforts to use these topics to demean or marginalize others."
What a weird league.
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