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Here's how good Fever's Sophie Cunningham actually is at basketball originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Is Sophie Cunningham actually any good at basketball?
It's a question that has come up a lot in online debate centered on the Indiana Fever guard.
Since she joined the Fever from the Phoenix Mercury as part of a multi-team trade in February 2025, any discussion of Cunningham tends to circle back to her off-court exploits as opposed to focusing strictly on the basketball -- as, ostensibly, she would like.
So let's do just that. Who is Sophie Cunningham? Not Cunningham the agitator, not Cunningham the provocateur, but Cunningham the basketball player?
MORE: Sophie Cunningham reportedly shopping tell-all book amid WNBA controversy
How good is Sophie Cunningham?
ESPN Analytics' "skill fingerprint" is a catch-all metric that shows a player's strengths and weaknesses in a color-coded pie chart, weighted against the rest of the WNBA per 100 possessions.
Cunningham's skill fingerprint paints a picture of a valuable role player, an elite 3-point shooter and threat in transition.
The University of Missouri's all-time leading scorer going on to have a solid WNBA career shouldn't really be a shock. Cunningham's off-court behavior has at times taken attention away from her skillset, which has proven important to the Fever -- and before that, to the Phoenix Mercury, who took her 13th overall in the 2019 draft.
Cunningham's 131.6 offensive rating is No. 1 in the WNBA. That means when she is on the floor, the Fever average an eye-popping 131.6 points for every 100 possessions -- or nearly 32 percent more points than the league average.
Cunningham last season ranked third in the WNBA in 3-point percentage; this year, she is second. She ranks second in the entire league in true-shooting percentage, which rewards player efficiency and shot selection. Her shooting splits for the season are 48/46/89.
It is not unreasonable to say that Cunningham is a key cog in Indiana's top-ranked offense, which is on course to break the single-season record for offensive rating. She does exactly what the Fever needs her to do: take care of the ball, shoot 3-pointers at high volume and with great accuracy. In addition, her ability to crash the glass for put-backs is not something fans always see from a guard.
Cunningham grades out as an average defender at best, which can be said for many of her Fever teammates. She forces few turnovers and the Fever allow roughly 113 points per 100 possessions when she is on the court. She is around league average in foul discipline (how often she fouls in isolated defensive situations) and defensive field goal percentage allowed.
As far as role players go, few are as good at their specialty as Cunningham. She is not a "star" per se, but she hasn't been handed her place in the WNBA, either.
Like most things in life, the truth about Cunningham is somewhere in between those two extremes.
More WNBA news:
- Another ex-NBA player just declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft
- Sophie Cunningham reveals state of Fever locker room amid mounting outside noise
- Stephanie White fires back at critics amid Sophie Cunningham controversy
- Caitlin Clark shatters WNBA record during dominant Fever win over Liberty
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