Fever's Cunningham puts Clark critics on blast

When it comes to the look of the WNBA and the subordinate taking the league to caller heights, the Indiana Fever's Sophie Cunningham minces nary words.

Cunningham says critics of teammate Caitlin Clark don't conscionable travel from the stands oregon via societal media either. There is simply a resentment from players successful the league that the seventh-year defender finds abhorrent.

"It virtually pisses maine disconnected erstwhile radical are like, 'She's not the look of the league.' What?" Cunningham said connected her caller podcast, 'Show Me Something.' "There's truly good, well-known radical successful our league. I'm not discrediting them. We person a batch of badasses successful our league. Hell yea to that. I'm each for that. But erstwhile radical effort to reason that she's not the look of our league oregon our league would beryllium wherever we're astatine without her, you're dumb arsenic s---. You're virtually dumb arsenic f---."

Cunningham was with the Phoenix Mercury past season, erstwhile Clark was a rookie, and said teammates planned to zero successful connected the young prima player.

"I cognize the talks Phoenix had successful their locker country of, like, 'We're going to amusement her what the W truly is,'" Cunningham said. "I get it to a definite extent. Every rookie coming into the league, that's however you're going to dainty them. But there's conscionable much for her. It's her 2nd year. Now being connected her squad and seeing it, I'm like, 'What are radical doing?' It's conscionable excessively much."

Cunningham came to Clark's defence connected the tribunal earlier this season successful an incidental with the Connecticut Sun's Jacy Sheldon and Marina Mabrey.

Clark has been constricted to conscionable 13 games due to the fact that of aggregate limb injuries and her 16.5 points per crippled are beneath her 19.2 people implicit 40 games past play erstwhile she was named WNBA Rookie of the Year.

But wrong those 13 games was a matchup with Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky that drew 2.7 cardinal viewers, making it the astir watched WNBA crippled successful 25 years. Teams successful smaller location arenas besides determination their games to bigger arenas for matchups with Clark and the Fever.

"This is what we've ever wanted arsenic a league truthful like, who cares who gets the credit," Cunningham said. "And if you're astute [you know] you're making wealth disconnected them. ... Just beryllium nice. Why can't radical beryllium nice?"