The Indiana Fever and Las Vegas Aces semifinal series has already been tense on the court. But the drama still continues to spill off. Headlined by Sophie Cunningham and A’ja Wilson, both sides keep the emotions running high.

The conversation between the two stars is now shifting from game strategy to respect, or the lack of it. In an already tense series, their words fuel more drama than fans were expecting.

Sophie Cunningham Fires Back at A’ja Wilson’s Postgame Comments

Speaking on her Show Me Something podcast, Fever guard Cunningham blasted Aces forward Wilson for dismissing Indiana’s Game 1 upset as merely a bad night on her part.

“The Aces gave us no credit,” Cunningham said. “They had their media the next day, and they gave us no credit. Especially A’ja, she’s like, ‘Oh I just played bad.’ I’m like, dude, AB had you in clamps, my girl.”

Wilson had just been crowned MVP hours before tipoff, but Aliyah Boston held her to 16 points on 6-of-22 shooting. To Cunningham, brushing off that performance disrespected the defensive effort Boston brought to the floor.

Wilson, Aliyah Boston Battle in the Paint

Stat sheets do back up Cunningham in her defense of Boston. Wilson shot just 2-for-11 when directly guarded by Boston, who stayed physical without fouling. While Wilson described the matchup as “no different” than usual, the Fever felt they had found a way to disrupt one of the league’s most dominant players.

But in the second game of the series, Wilson answered to every attack rather emphatically. She poured in 25 points, nine rebounds, and five steals as the Aces managed to even the series out with a 90-68 rout.

Cunningham admitted Vegas “definitely played better,” but stressed Indiana’s Game 1 victory wasn’t a fluke.

The Fever have exceeded expectations just by making it this far, particularly with stars like Cunningham, Caitlin Clark, Sydney Colson, and Aari McDonald sidelined. Yet contributions from Kelsey Mitchell (34 points in Game 1), Lexie Hull, and Aerial Powers have kept them alive.

The two teams are now heading to Game 4 in Indiana, after the Aces have taken a 2-1 series lead.