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By Matthew Couden
Contributing Writer
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Upon joining the Indiana Fever and aligning herself with Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham quickly became a popular player in the WNBA.
In her first season with the Fever, she contributed to the team's potential to contend for a WNBA Championship until injuries struck their roster.
That included playing the role of enforcer on the court when Clark took shots from opponents, leading to a flagrant 2 foul, ejection, and fine for Cunningham.
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Off the court, she has been outspoken, seemingly unafraid of sharing her thoughts about her teammates and rivals.
Amid her time on the sideline with a season-ending injury, Cunningham opened up about one of her longtime rivals, Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier.
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"Speaking of WNBA, you want to get into it? Because I have some things to get off my chest," she told co-host West Wilson during the Show Me Something podcast.
After seeing her Fever play Minnesota in back-to-back games, she brought up the Lynx being "really good" and "hot" this season.
They're led by the former UConn Huskies star, Collier, who's having an incredible season with averages of 23.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 3.4 assists.
Cunningham had early experience playing against her, saying they were opponents since junior high or middle school when Collier went to Incarnate Word.
She said Collier wasn't playing for the school when Cunningham's school beat them for a championship.
"But Napheesa is a good. She's probably the best player in our league. She's a hell of a player who has everything in her bag," Cunningham said of her longtime rival.
Cunningham also mentioned another UConn and Minnesota Lynx legend, Maya Moore, indicating the Lynx had a "little bit of a slump" after her time there.
That occurred until they drafted Napheesa at No. 6 in 2019 to ultimately give them another superstar on their roster.
"She can guard one through five. She can shoot the three-ball," Cunningham said in praising Collier, adding, "She's long and she's strong."
"Hard to play against, but she's fun to watch," she also said.
Collier remains on pace to become the WNBA Most Valuable Player Award winner for the first time in her career. She'd become the first Lynx player since 2017 to claim the award, following in the footsteps of Sylvia Fowles.
Moore, who was the 2014 WNBA MVP, is the only other Lynx player to have won the award while playing for the team.
This season's Lynx currently sit atop the league's standings with a 30-7 record, and no other team has lost fewer than 14 games.
During her podcast, Cunningham also called Minnesota's head coach, Cheryl Reeve, a "genius" for everything about how she orchestrates their motion offense, which has an "old school vibe."
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