Sophie Cunningham Turns Heads After Exposing WNBA Fine originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The WNBA has a lot of issues to address at the moment, but the one that keeps popping up is the officiating.
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While the WNBA is hoping Caitlin Clark can return soon to resurrect viewership or that the CBA negotiations take a positive turn, the league’s officials have been frequently called out this year. One team in particular that has been inherently vocal about its frustrations is the Indiana Fever, who out of 13 teams rank No. 8 in the league in free throw attempts per game (18.9) and No. 4 in most personal fouls per game called against them (19.9).
While much of the frustrations have come from head coach Stephanie White or star guard Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham has also got in on the fun recently. However, her decision to criticize the refs ended up costing her $500 as she revealed on Wednesday.
Cunningham shared to X that she had been fined by the WNBA after posting a video five days ago on TikTok that she captioned “@ some refs.”
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In the background, Sabrina Carpenter’s hit song “Manchild” played as Cunningham selected an interesting portion of the lyrics to direct at the refs.
“Stupid. Or is it slow? Maybe it’s useless,” sings Carpenter in the background.
Fans quickly jumped to the defense of Cunningham, while blasting the WNBA for its decision.
“Where is the go gofund me..we got you,” wrote one fan.
“I’ll pay that fine for u on principle,” said a second.
“Drag them queen,” added a third.
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“What’s your cash app? I’ll send you the $500,” proposed another.
“Someone smarter than me setup a go fund me to pay this for Sophie. This is idiotic,” said another.
Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham celebrates a made basket.Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images
The “more important things” that Cunningham is referring to could very well be the fact the players are preparing for a lockout if the WNBA doesn’t come up with a better CBA offer.
Before Saturday’s WNBA All-Star game, every player on the court took off their warmup and were seen wearing T-shirts that read “Pay us what you owe us.” It has already upset fans that the stars are being underpaid, and now the fining of one of the more popular players may only dig a deeper hole.
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Related: Fans Notice ESPN’s WNBA Announcement Skipped Over Caitlin Clark
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 23, 2025, where it first appeared.
