Sophie Cunningham‘s infamous finger-pointing taunt at the Phoenix Mercury‘s DeWanna Bonner has become one of the more viral images in sports and pop culture.
But the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) is halting potential licensing deals for the image.
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Sports business reporter Darren Rovell pointed out on X Monday, July 20, that the union doesn’t want its official business partners selling the image, “prohibiting licensees” from using the “derogatory” gesture from Cunningham, per Front Office Sports.
The union confirmed to Front Office Sports Rovell’s take on the matter.
“For licensed apparel, we generally do not feature or look to monetize player conduct from a confrontation between our members,” a WNBPA spokesperson said.
Cunningham pointed at Bonner as they were separated amid a dustup in the Indiana Fever‘s 86-77 home win against the Mercury on June 22. Bonner was defending her teammate Alyssa Thomas after she and Indiana’s Myisha Hines-Allen had to be separated, which drew a technical foul on Thomas and Hines-Allen.
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Cunningham suggested to the officials that Bonner, her former Fever and Mercury teammate, should also receive a tech. That agitated Bonner and caused the heated exchange.
However, Cunningham is still able to walk the thin line on this union clause by monetizing the incident on her own, using vehicles such as the “2K” video game series, sports team apparel companies Lids and Breaking T, and sports card brand Panini.
There’s a group licensing agreement between the union and all WNBA players enabling partners to license players’ name, image and likeness (NIL) without directly negotiating with each player. But if the union rejects a brand deal with one of its partners, players have free rein to individually sign sponsorship deals with any company.
“Players are of course free to create and/or license their own product,” the WNBPA said. “And if any brand wants to use the WNBA’s team logos and branding, they would need to seek approval from the league, not the union.”
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: WNBA union halts Cunningham ‘derogatory’ finger image deals
