Sophie Cunningham Bluntly Discusses Fever’s Villain Status: ‘No One Likes Us’

The Indiana veteran addressed her team’s struggles to start the year.

Sophie Cunningham and Caitlin Clark watch the Fever's 85-75 loss to the Sparks on Thursday night from the bench.

The Indiana Fever are going through a rough patch.

Entering the year with high expectations after adding plenty of veteran talent around second-year phenom Caitlin Clark, the Fever have been met with unrelenting adversity to start the season. DeWanna Bonner, a future Hall of Famer who was signed to provide veteran leadership in the frontcourt, left the team due to an apparent disagreement over her role. Clark, Cunningham and Ari McDonald all have missed significant time due to injury.

Thursday night was another tough showing in Indianapolis, as the Clark-less Fever shot just 36.5% from the field and lost 85-75 to the five-win Los Angeles Sparks to drop to 7-8 on the year.

Yes, the Fever have had their fair share of injuries. But they haven’t consistently played up to their potential, which is magnified by their share of the national spotlight. Every team aims to bring their best against Indiana, which has a record 41 of its 44 games on national television this season. The Fever have yet to match it.

“We are circled on everybody’s schedule. No one likes us,” Cunningham said Thursday night after the loss. “Everyone in our locker room—that’s the only type of people that we have that we can lean on, and we’ve got to be better in that area. We’ve got to stay disciplined, we have to stay focused, we need to get consistent, and we’ve got to lean on each other.”

After the loss to Los Angeles, the Fever now face their first back-to-back of the season—a road matchup against Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings on Friday night at American Airlines Center.

“The schedule thing? That’s just an excuse,” Cunningham said. “We’re in this league. We’re pros, and you’ve got to be a pro. [Friday], we’ve got to bring it.