{"id":278771,"date":"2025-11-12T19:15:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T19:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/278771\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T19:15:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T19:15:11","slug":"sophie-cunninghams-candid-5-word-comment-on-fever-future-hints-at-bigger-wnba-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/278771\/","title":{"rendered":"Sophie Cunningham\u2019s Candid 5-Word Comment on Fever Future Hints at Bigger WNBA Issue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5n\">There has arguably never been a more uncertain time in the WNBA than right now. This is owed to the ongoing negotiations between the league office and the players&#8217; association about the next Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which will dictate how much players can make with their WNBA salaries for the foreseeable future, among other important matters. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5q\">All indications are that salaries are set to increase by multiples. However, the two sides don&#8217;t agree on how the revenue share structure should work, which is why a deal hasn&#8217;t been finalized at this point. And if a new CBA isn&#8217;t reached by the end of 2025, then there&#8217;s a real chance that a work stoppage could occur. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5t\">Not only is the CBA top of mind for players because of its impact on how much money they can earn, but also because WNBA free agency can&#8217;t commence until the CBA is in place. This means that every free agent (which is essentially every single WNBA player who isn&#8217;t on a rookie contract) is stuck in a holding pattern before figuring out what their future holds. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5w\">This has got to be frustrating, and makes it easy to understand why players are fed up with the ongoing negotiations. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/01k9wn29mt7pgs63zf47.jpg\" alt=\"Team Clark guard Caitlin Clark (22) and Team Collier guard Kelsey Plum (10) on Jly 19, 2025.\" title=\"Team Clark guard Caitlin Clark (22) and Team Collier guard Kelsey Plum (10) on Jly 19, 2025.\" width=\"2429\" height=\"2429\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"65\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jul 19, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Team Clark guard Caitlin Clark (22) and Team Collier guard Kelsey Plum (10) before the 2025 WNBA All Star Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Sophie Cunningham&#8217;s Response to Fan&#8217;s Fever Future Comment Speaks Volumes<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6c\">Thankfully for Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham, she has been able to keep herself busy through various off-court events and engagements during this WNBA offseason. But that doesn&#8217;t mean the CBA negotiations aren&#8217;t still top of mind, which was shown by a fan saying that she and Lexie Hull needed to re-sign with Indiana when t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/wnba\/fever\/news\/sophie-cunningham-shares-beer-filled-heckling-plan-as-caitlin-clark-s-golf-caddie-01k9tswq9bs5\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hey were caddying Caitlin Clark <\/a>at &#8220;The Annika&#8221; LPGA golf Pro-Am event on November 12. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6f\">\u201cTell them to pay us,\u201d Cunningham said to the fan, with &#8220;them&#8221; being a reference to the WNBA league office, per an X post from Scott Agness. <\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A Fever fan shouted at Cunningham and Hull that they both need to re-sign.<\/p>\n<p>Cunningham: \u201cTell them to pay us,\u201d she said, referencing the WNBA and their ongoing CBA negotiations. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cX5xmGtatG\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/cX5xmGtatG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ScottAgness\/status\/1988626469153644955?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">November 12, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">Cunningham and Hull were interviewed at another point in the Pro-Am. And when speaking about Clark, she said, &#8220;I think she just elevates everyone who&#8217;s around her. She&#8217;s a phenomenal player, a generational player. And I think everyone sees that. We missed her out on the court this year.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6o\">&#8220;Depending on the CBA, and what&#8217;s going on, hopefully we&#8217;re all together again,&#8221; Cunningham added, per an X post from @ericaf455. &#8220;I think the thing about Caitlin is, she&#8217;s just a great person. She&#8217;s fun, she&#8217;s silly. Just of still just a kid. So a lot of people see her in a serious light, but we get to kind of see the goofy side of her.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hopefully we are all together again &#8211; Sophie \ud83e\udd79 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xNQmCpUhyc\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/xNQmCpUhyc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ericaf455 (@ericaf455) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ericaf455\/status\/1988646821749457038?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">November 12, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6u\">Cunningham saying, &#8220;Tell them to pay us!&#8221; shows that she&#8217;s still thinking a lot about the CBA. And these comments would suggest that her future with the Fever could hinge on both sides agreeing to a new deal before the end of this season.<\/p>\n<p>Recommended Reading:<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There has arguably never been a more uncertain time in the WNBA than right now. This is owed&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-278771","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}