The cherry on top of Indiana’s awful, injury-riddled season was added on the evening of the trade deadline. In one fell swoop, Stephanie White’s team lost both Sophie Cunningham and Sydney Colson in a game against the Connecticut Sun. The Indiana Fever’s backcourt was already weakened because of Caitlin Clark’s injury, so losing Cunningham’s minutes because of an unfortunate accident hit really hard. Afterwards, fans directed a lot of hate towards Bria Hartley, the Sun guard responsible for the injury. But was that really fair?

In simple terms, no, it wasn’t. Hartley didn’t choose to fall on Sophie Cunningham’s outstretched leg during the game. So, the vitriol and the hate that she received for simply falling at the wrong time don’t make sense. And the Connecticut Sun guard did an amazing job of not responding to the haters, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t impacted by what they said.

On The Good Follow podcast, Sun guard Bria Hartley got candid about the harrowing experience. “People are going to say what they want, but you see it all. It’s hard not to see it, to be honest, when it’s flooding all of my posts, like my engagement post—they’re commenting under everything.” She said, emphasizing the extent to which haters went after the Indiana Fever game. They spammed Hartley’s posts, blaming her for the Fever’s latest injury report additions.

And it wasn’t just the recent posts either. Apparently, Fever fans did a deep dive into Hartley’s accounts, leaving not-so-pleasant words under every upload. “There was a point where I turned off my comments on my first, probably 15 or 16 photos. You’d have to scroll all the way down to comment, and some people still scrolled all the way down to do it. I just turned them off for a bit, and then I think I ended up turning them back on later.” The entire situation was incredibly unfair towards the Sun guard, because some injuries are bound to happen when you play competitive sports.

To hold another player fully responsible for an accidental collision is just the wrong thing to do. Bria Hartley went through a difficult period due to this situation. However, things did improve for her in the short term, especially when Sophie Cunningham herself vouched for Hartley. Let’s find out exactly what happened!

Sophie Cunningham’s words absolve Connecticut Sun guard of guilt

Living life means you accept that there are risks and gambles at every level, and this is doubly true if you end up playing sport. On paper, everyone knows the risks involved. That is, however, until your favorite star gets injured. Cunningham’s MCL tear led to a massive blame game, culminating in Bria Hartley receiving a lot of hate. And the Indiana Fever star took an extra step to make sure everyone knew exactly what happened.

On her Show Me Something podcast, Sophie Cunningham addressed the situation in great detail and with an optimistic outlook. “If you’re gonna hurt your knee, that is the best possible case.” She said, pointing at a million other injuries she could’ve sustained that would’ve been a lot worse to deal with. The Fever guard could’ve torn her ACL, which is an automatic 12 months in bed, or her cartilage, which could have led to lifelong issues. So, in the grand scheme of things, an MCL tear is nothing to write home about.

And about the hate? Cunningham had an important clarification to make. “There was no ill intent, I think it was a basketball play,” She said. “I was just in the wrong spot at the wrong time [and]  she fell. There’s no way that she would go in there and potentially try to hurt me. I have nothing but love for Bria … and so I hope people stop giving Bria some heat because I don’t think she meant to do that at all.” Her words caused a lot of the fans to back off, much to our relief.

Blaming a star for her role in someone else’s injury is not the right thing to do if it was unintentional. And if you run the clip back? You’ll see there’s nothing Bria Hartley could’ve done about the incident. Cunningham’s addressing the situation was the perfect way to put an end to a rather tumultuous saga.