Add Sophie Cunningham to the list of prominent WNBA players voicing their displeasure with the direction of the league.
The Indiana Fever forward spoke at her team’s end-of-season availability and echoed the sentiments of Napheesa Collier and other players.
Cunningham on WNBA leadership: ‘They don’t know s** about basketball’ Sophie Cunningham echoed Napheesa Collier’s remarks towards the WNBA on Thursday, calling out league leadership and the lack of accountability they’re taking.
“I’m just tired of our league,” the 29-year-old Cunningham said. “They need to step up and be better. Our leadership, from top to bottom, needs to be held accountable.”
Prefacing her remarks that she intended to be diplomatic, Cunningham didn’t pull any punches.
“I think that there are a lot of people in a position of power in the WNBA, who – they might be great business people, but they don’t know s— about basketball. And that’s gotta change.”
Cunningham’s remarks come on the heels of Collier’s scathing remarks towards league leadership, including commissioner Cathy Engelbert, on Tuesday.
“We have the best players in the world. We have the best fans in the world. But right now we have the worst leadership in the world,” Collier said in a four-minute statement. “[Officiating] has now reached levels of inconsistency that plague our sport and undermine the integrity in which it operates,” Collier told reporters. “They ignore the issues that everyone inside the game is begging to be fixed — that is negligence.”
Cunningham cited a poor level of officiating as a particular point of contention.
“When we’re competing at the highest level and it’s like a battlefield out there, when we’re agreeing on the court because of how awful the officials are, like that’s saying something,” Cunningham said. “Listen to us. We’re not going to come for your heads, but I think there’s room for improvement, to change the criteria, when the whole league is asking for it.”
With an Oct. 31 deadline to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement, Cunningham says a work stoppage is on the horizon.
“There’s a potential lockout,” Cunningham said. “I promise you we aren’t going to play until they give us what we deserve. That’s kinda where it’s headed unfortunately, which would be the dumbest basketball decision, business-wise ever, considering the momentum the W has.”
Before that, the WNBA Finals begin on Friday night with the Las Vegas Aces hosting the Phoenix Mercury in Game 1.