{"id":491396,"date":"2026-02-26T10:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T10:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/491396\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T10:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T10:09:13","slug":"indiana-fevers-sophie-cunningham-shares-sad-personal-news-on-tuesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/491396\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana Fever\u2019s Sophie Cunningham Shares Sad Personal News on Tuesday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/tag\/sophie-cunningham\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Sophie Cunningham;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Sophie Cunningham<\/a> has become a fan favorite since joining the <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/wnba\/indiana-fever\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Indiana Fever;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Indiana Fever<\/a>, known for her energy, toughness and larger-than-life personality. A 13th overall pick in the 2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/wnba\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:WNBA;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">WNBA<\/a> Draft, she spent six seasons with the Phoenix Mercury before being traded to Indiana, where she quickly became an important piece of the rotation alongside teammates like <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/tag\/caitlin-clark\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Caitlin Clark;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Caitlin Clark<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A veteran scorer and defender, Cunningham was playing some of her best basketball before suffering a season-ending torn MCL in her right knee during a game against the Connecticut Sun in August.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The injury was confirmed by MRI and ruled her out for the remainder of the year, following surgery and months of rehab. Despite missing the end of the season, she averaged 8.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game, while giving fans plenty of memorable moments on both ends of the court.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8).Jerome Miron-Imagn Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/e7a03bbed52d73fc9ab4b082ba788617.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8).Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p> (Jerome Miron-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n<p>Off the court, Cunningham has become equally beloved for her vibrant personality and willingness to engage with fans on social media. She is known for her candid stories, her sense of humor, and sharing pieces of her life beyond basketball \u2014 from weekend outings to her close relationships with family and friends.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Cunningham <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/sophie_cham\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:announced some sad news;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">announced some sad news<\/a> on her Instagram stories about one of her most cherished companions: her horse, who had just passed away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFly high to my very first horse, Bea! Best horse ever \ud83d\udc9b\u201d Cunningham captioned the post with a photo of her beloved horse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was about to turn 36! The sweetest, most gentle horse. \ud83d\ude14 Sad day,\u201d she added in another post.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&quot;I grew up riding horses, tractors.&quot; \ud83d\udc0e\ud83d\ude9c Beyond Basketball with Sophie Cunningham Presented by Yrefy\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n6UjQSaURjY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Cunningham has long been open about her love for horses, <a href=\"https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/SophieCunninghamOfficial\/posts\/happiest-with-my-horse-boot-barn\/594089279822581\/?_rdc=1&amp;_rdr#\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:frequently posting pictures and videos with Bea;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">frequently posting pictures and videos with Bea<\/a> and reflecting on riding during her upbringing. Her followers have seen many of those moments, from relaxed ranch days to heartfelt captions celebrating her bond with her horse.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/indiana-fever-lexie-hull-makes-224411107.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Related: Indiana Fever\u2019s Lexie Hull Makes Announcement After Launching Own Brand;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Related: Indiana Fever\u2019s Lexie Hull Makes Announcement After Launching Own Brand<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This story was originally published by <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/wnba\/indiana-fever\/indiana-fevers-sophie-cunningham-announces-sad-personal-news-on-tuesday\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Athlon Sports;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Athlon Sports<\/a> on Feb 24, 2026, where it first appeared in the <a href=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/wnba\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:WNBA;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">WNBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=athlonsports.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Preferred Source by clicking here.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sophie Cunningham has become a fan favorite since joining the Indiana Fever, known for her energy, toughness and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[1760,4384,2839,5551,4805,99,434],"class_list":["post-491396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-connecticut-sun","tag-indiana-fever","tag-phoenix-mercury","tag-sophie-cunningham","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}