{"id":899263,"date":"2026-09-20T20:02:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T20:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/899263\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T20:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T20:02:10","slug":"is-that-fair-sophie-cunningham-baffled-by-lebron-james-and-stephen-currys-nba-privileges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/899263\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIs that fair?\u201d: Sophie Cunningham baffled by LeBron James and Stephen Curry\u2019s NBA \u201cprivileges\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sophie Cunningham<\/a> has never been shy about embracing hard work, but even she was taken aback by how differently some of the NBA<\/a>\u2019s biggest stars manage their bodies over the course of a season.<\/p>\n

During a recent episode of \u201cNo Hesitation,\u201d Cunningham\u2019s co-host Drew Hanlen explained that elite NBA players can enter a season already knowing which games they are likely to miss for rest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s already scheduled rest days for players,\u201d Hanlen said. \u201cBefore the season starts, they already know a couple games that they\u2019re sitting out, because they\u2019re trying to manage their load.\u201d<\/p>\n

The revelation immediately caught Cunningham\u2019s attention. \u201cI know you\u2019re going to say it\u2019s smart, because the end goal is to get the championship, but like, is that fair?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

Her reaction was not simply about NBA privilege. It came during a broader discussion about how much strain WNBA players absorb late in the season, particularly as the Indiana Fever push toward the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Are two-hour practices still necessary?<\/p>\n

Cunningham used the conversation to explain some of her own frustration with Indiana\u2019s current workload. She made clear that she enjoys practice and values the preparation, but questioned whether the same work could be completed in less time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI truly love to practice, I love working hard and I love what we do in practice,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cI just think, for me, it\u2019s the time. Why can\u2019t we do that in 1:20 or 1:30? Why does it have to be two hours?\u201d<\/p>\n

Cunningham also went out of her way to defend Fever coach Stephanie White.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat has to be our coach\u2019s mentality because holy s**t,\u201d she said. \u201cLike, I love her to death, trust me. I like to think we are prepared, in shape, in rhythm, and our chemistry is great right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something to be said of like load management, because as a player, you also want to feel healthy and refreshed and ready to go when it matters,\u201d Cunningham added. \u201cI think that\u2019s what I\u2019m struggling with, truthfully.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

NBA and WNBA schedules create different pressures<\/p>\n

The comparison between leagues isn’t perfect. NBA players face an 82-game regular season, and veterans such as James and Curry have long careers and heavy postseason mileage to manage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WNBA players compete in a 44-game season, but the calendar is more compressed and often overlaps with international basketball commitments. That creates a different kind of wear.<\/p>\n

Indiana has also dealt with injury concerns in recent seasons, which makes the subject especially sensitive as the Fever fight for playoff positioning.<\/p>\n

Hanlen\u2019s explanation simply highlighted how much more formalized rest can be at the NBA level.<\/p>\n

Cunningham\u2019s reaction, though, exposed the larger issue she is wrestling with in how to balance conditioning, rhythm and preparation without arriving at the postseason already worn down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sophie Cunningham has never been shy about embracing hard work, but even she was taken aback by how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":899264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-899263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}