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Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham didn’t mince words about the team’s recent struggles.
The Fever lost back-to-back games on the West Coast, while Caitlin Clark and head coach Stephanie White went viral in an altercation on the sidelines, and Cunningham took issue with the team’s play.
“We have all the pieces we need (to win), but it’s knowing your role, owning your role and also just being tough,” Cunningham said. “We’re just too soft right now and that’s not what our identity is, so we’ve got to get away from that.”
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Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham plays against the Seattle Storm at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind., on May 17, 2026. (Trevor Ruszkowski/Imagn Images)
On Monday, Clark and White said they had moved on from their sideline spat. Cunningham said the team had a meeting Tuesday and hopes that helps turn the page.
“We had a team meeting (Monday) — a long meeting — and so hopefully we’ve kind of turned the page,” Cunningham said. “I think we were in there an hour and a half, almost two hours, and we built all the layers back. I think everybody is on a good page right now and ready to work. We’ll say it started (as a) coaches (meeting) and then ended up being players. It was needed, though.”
Cunningham and All-Star guard Kelsey Mitchell didn’t divulge details about what was discussed, and White said the meeting didn’t go quite as long as Cunningham thought.
Clearly, everyone felt it was necessary and valuable after television cameras caught the incident between Clark and White during Saturday night’s 100-84 loss to Portland — an expansion team Indiana beat by 17 points just 10 days earlier without Clark.
CAITLIN CLARK FANS Erupt AT HEAD COACH STEPHANIE WHITE AFTER FEVER BLOWOUT LOSS TO PORTLAND FIRE
Indiana Fever guards Sophie Cunningham and Caitlin Clark stand next to each other during the second half against the Portland Fire at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on May 30, 2026. (Jaime Valdez/Imagn Images)
Mitchell explained Clark and White’s sideline incident as part of being a family.
“I think that’s part of being a family,” she said. “If you think it’s all glitz and glamour, you’re wrong. I think hard times can make you or break you, and hopefully it doesn’t break us, and I think losses are important because you find out a lot about yourself, about where you need to be, where you’re missing the mark, and I’m glad it’s happening now. If there’s frustration, I’d rather be now than later.”
The Fever are currently 4-4 and a game and a half out of the final playoff spot. They entered the season with high expectations after falling one win short of reaching the WNBA Finals despite missing a host of key players due to injury.
The offensive of the fever has been great. They average a league-leading 91.8 points per game. match; the problem is their defense. They give up 89 points per game, which is the second most in the WNBA.
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Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark waits for play to resume during the fourth quarter against the Golden State Valkyries at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California on May 28, 2026. (David Gonzales/Imagn Images)
Cunningham said the team didn’t even watch film from their loss to the Fire in an effort to move on.
“We didn’t even see film (of the Portland game) that tells you how bad it is because she (White) usually watches every second of it. We wanted to flush it, everybody knew it was bad. We all saw it firsthand and it’s just unacceptable. We’re too good to play like that.”
The Fever will look to turn that around when they play Angel Reese’s Atlanta Dream at 7pm ET on Thursday.
