Sophie Cunningham Pinpoints What’s Holding Fever Back From A Championship: ‘There’s Always One Person’

Originally posted on Fadeaway World | By Aritri Paul | Last updated Sep 11, 2026 8:29 AM ET

A new podcast, but the same concern. Sophie Cunningham is once again talking about what’s hurting the Indiana Fever on-court, and this time her comments forced fans to think she may be pointing to someone in particular.

Despite being among the best teams in the 2026 WNBA season, the Fever’s defense continues to raise concerns. Cunningham recently addressed the issue by stressing the importance of her team’s defensive development ahead of their extensive playoff run.

In the debut episode of her new podcast, No Hesitation, Cunningham raised some eyebrows when she talked about what she thought Indiana’s biggest struggle is that they need to fix ahead of the playoffs.

Cunningham said, “I think our biggest struggle, and we talk about this all the time, is like, it’s very rare for all five of us out on the court to be on a string. Cause there’s always one person who is just kind of ball watching or not doing what they’re supposed to do.”

While Cunningham didn’t single out anyone in particular, Fever fans and online sleuths saw this as a potential crack in the Indiana camp.

One fan even questioned her on X (formerly Twitter), “damn soph who you talking about??

One fan claimed, “I mean all of them do it, there’s certain players that draw more attention for it but, it’s very much a team discipline issue.”

Others accused Caitlin Clark, with some writing, “to be honest CC does a lot of ball watching” and “cc sadly.”

to be honest CC does a lot of ball watching

Throwing shade at Cunningham, another user commented under the thread, “Reverse uno: shes taking about herself

The Fever are ranked 10th in the WNBA for defensive rating (108.4), while they lead the league in offensive rating (115.9). Naturally, co-host Drew Hanlen asked the Fever guard if Indiana is addressing their defensive shortcomings.

Addressing the issue head-on, Cunningham explained, “Yes, and I say that, and it’s just like a little bit more effort from everybody. We can’t go and reinvent the wheel, and I think there are some times that we show that we are actually very good at executing our defense and that we’re all on the same string.”

Still, Cunningham went on to acknowledge the fact that her team needed to be collectively engaged on the defensive end.

During the September 10, 2026 episode of her podcast, the Fever guard noted, “So it’s like that we shoot ourselves in the foot, or we play really good defense, and then we don’t go and get the rebound, and then they get, you know, a wide open three, and against us people shoot the (expletive) out of it like we’re everyone’s Super Bowl… We do a lot of stuff to ourselves, but yes, we need to step it up defensively.”

The eight-year WNBA veteran added, “We can hang our hat on offense, but to win, to be where we want to be at the end of the season, we’ve got to pick up our defense.”

This isn’t the first time Cunningham has criticized her team’s lack of defensive toughness as the key reason for their shaky start to the 2026 campaign. Speaking on her Show Me Something podcast (which has shut down following her public fallout with her former friend and co-host West Wilson) back in May, Cunningham said that her team has the potential to become a dominant defensive team but needs everyone to fully chip in.

Cunningham reiterated her earlier stance in her rebranded podcast on Thursday, adding, “When you are playing against such high-level athletes, even if one person isn’t doing what they’re supposed to do, you’re gonna get (expletive).”

“I think it’s just like everyone has to level up a little bit. I think… We’ve been working on… perfecting like different schemes, which is good. Like we need to… But I think for us it’s like it’s our scramble rotation and then our box-out and rebounding that really kinda (expletive) us.”