{"id":295779,"date":"2025-11-20T16:25:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T16:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/295779\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T16:25:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T16:25:12","slug":"fever-star-sophie-cunningham-shares-faith-message-amid-wnba-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/295779\/","title":{"rendered":"Fever star Sophie Cunningham shares faith message amid WNBA negotiations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham shared a message about her faith on social media this week as the deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement looms over the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/wnba\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">WNBA<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Cunningham, who is set to become a free agent after her first season with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/wnba\/indiana-fever\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">the Fever<\/a> was cut short due to injury, took to X to share a message encouraging her followers to &#8220;be bold and courageous!&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/wnba-fever-sophie-cunningham-110225-1.jpg\" alt=\"Sophie Cunningham at a NASCAR race\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Honorary pace car driver Sophie Cunningham attends pre-race ceremony activities prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 2, 2025, in Avondale, Arizona. (James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Jesus is King,&#8221; her post on Wednesday read. &#8220;Remember to stay focused on what is true, right, and just. Do not waiver [sic] in doing good. Be bold and courageous!&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The WNBA veteran has spoken openly about her faith on social media in the past, often sharing similar messages on Instagram. Her latest remarks come amid ongoing negotiations with the league over a new CBA and with her own future in Indiana still up in the air.<\/p>\n<p>Cunningham has been among the most outspoken players during negotiations and took direct aim at WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert over alleged remarks made about the league and one of its biggest stars, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/person\/caitlin-clark\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Caitlin Clark<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I\u2019m just tired of our league. They need to step up and be better. Our leadership from top to bottom needs to be held accountable. I think there are a lot of people in positions of power in the WNBA who they might be really great businesspeople, but they don\u2019t know s&#8212; about basketball. And that\u2019s gotta change,&#8221; Cunningham said during her exit interview last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sophie-cunningham-caitlin-clark-wnba-001.jpg\" alt=\"Sophie Cunningham and Caitlin Clark courtside\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Sophie Cunningham (8) and Caitlin Clark (22) of the Indiana Fever cheer from the bench against the Chicago Sky at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on June 7, 2025. (Daniel Bartel\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think it\u2019s pretty shameful that she always makes it about her, Cathy, when it should have nothing to do with her,&#8221; she added about Engelbert.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/caitlin-clark-calls-great-leadership-sophie-cunningham-doubles-down-wnba-commissioner-condemnation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CAITLIN CLARK CALLS FOR &#8216;GREAT LEADERSHIP,&#8217; SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM DOUBLES DOWN ON WNBA COMMISSIONER CONDEMNATION\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The remarks stemmed from accusations made by WNBPA Vice President Napheesa Collier claiming that Engelbert said in a private conversation that the former Iowa star should be &#8220;grateful&#8221; for the platform the league provides her during a conversation about salary concerns.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Engelbert disputed the claims, but the conversations around player pay and concerns about officiating in the league have delayed negotiations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The players\u2019 association and the WNBA agreed to an eight-year deal in 2020, but last year the WNBPA voted to opt out of the agreement early. The current deal was due to expire on Oct. 31, but negotiations were extended through Nov. 30.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/fever-sophie-cunningham-faith-cba-talks-001.jpg\" alt=\"Sophie Cunningham on sidelines during SEC football game\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>WNBA star and Missouri Tigers alum Sophie Cunningham is seen on the sidelines during an SEC football game between the Texas A&amp;M Aggies and Missouri Tigers at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Missouri, on Nov. 8, 2025. (Scott Winters\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.onelink.me\/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&amp;af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&amp;af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A source familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press that the latest proposal included revenue sharing with a maximum salary of more than $1.1 million available to more than one player per team, with potential growth each season.<\/p>\n<p>The new league minimum would also increase to more than $220,000 with an average of more than $460,000.<\/p>\n<p>Cunningham will become a free agent in 2026 after signing a one-year deal with Indiana last season. Her first year with the Fever was cut short following an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/injuries\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">MCL injury<\/a>, which required season-ending surgery.<\/p>\n<p>The Associated Press contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Follow Fox News Digital\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FoxNewsSports_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"> sports coverage on X<\/a>, and subscribe to<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FoxNewsSports_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>  <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham shared a message about her&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,735,48,2803,82,630],"class_list":["post-295779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-canada","tag-indiana-fever","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295779","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=295779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}