Fever's Sophie Cunningham Says Bria Hartley Didn't Try to Intentionally Injure Her

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham doesn't believe there was anything malicious behind the contact that concluded her 2025 WNBA season.

Cunningham tore her right MCL in a 99-93 win over the Connecticut Sun last Sunday. The injury resulted from a play when she tried to defend Sun guard Brian Hartley around the basket.

In the newest episode of her Show Me Something podcast, Cunningham chalked it up to bad luck rather than an effort by Hartley to injure her.

"No, I don't, because I know Bria and I'm actually really good friends with Bria and I have been waiting to get on the pod so we could talk about this because I didn't want to tweet it out," she said around the 6:20 mark of the show (via the New York Post's Jenna Lemoncelli).

"I think that there was no ill intent. I think that it was a basketball play. I was just in the wrong spot at the wrong time. She fell. Like, there's no way that she would go in there and potentially try to hurt me, and so I have nothing but love for Bria."

Cunningham also tried to find the silver lining from her MCL tear, saying it was "like the best possible case" in terms of a serious knee issue.

The injury ended what had been Cunningham's best season in the WNBA. She averaged 8.6 points and set personal bests in field-goal percentage (46.9) and three-point percentage (43.2).

Off the court, the 29-year-old's popularity is higher than ever after she embraced an "enforcer" role for teammate Caitlin Clark.