“Just the competitor I am, I’m fierce, I’m sassy,” Sophie Cunningham warned before suiting up for the Indiana Fever. And she’s lived up to that. Whether stepping in as the team’s enforcer or openly calling out the referees, the 6’1″ guard has stayed unapologetically vocal.. And she’s been fined for it. $500 for singing along to a Sabrina Carpenter song where the lyrics go like “Stupid! Or is it… slow? Maybe it’s… useless?”, tagging WNBA refs in the caption. And then a whopping $1500 for yet another rant. 

In the debut episode of her new podcast Show Me Something, co-hosted with Bravo’s Summer House star West Wilson, Cunningham had let loose on officiating once again. This time, for their inconsistency. She said, “If I was a ref, I know I would mess up all the time. I’m not saying your job is easy, but when it’s a simple call right in front of your face multiple times, what are you doing? … They’re just so inconsistent… I think players across the league, and new fans across the country, are like, ‘What is going on with the refs?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’ And you fining me $500 is not going to do —-.”

That fine marked her second of the season and led to some unease inside the Fever locker room. In episode two of the podcast, which dropped last night, Cunningham shared how her teammates reacted when they heard she was going to start a podcast in the first place!

“Everyone in my locker room, they’re like, ‘Oh god, like what is she going to say next?’” Naturally, they were worried….and curious. Why wouldn’t they? After all, this is Sophie Cunningham we’re talking about — the same player who doesn’t blink before barking at refs or jumping in for her teammates. Remember the Jacy Sheldon–Caitlin Clark scuffle? But it’s not just Sophie who’s doing the talking. A lot has been said about WNBA officiating lately. 

 A recent report by Maria Lawson of ESPN showed that foul calls are slightly up this season. Teams are averaging 18.7 fouls per game — the highest since 2017. And one team that’s been at the center of it is the Indiana Fever. They’ve had several questionable calls go against them. One standout moment came when Caitlin Clark visibly blocked an official’s path after Lexie Hull was called for a foul she didn’t commit against the Aces. But the Fever aren’t alone.

Angel Reese recently said, “We know we can compete with the best, but [the officiating] has to be fixed.” The concerns have been loud enough that WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert addressed them publicly, too:

“We hear the concerns, we take that input. Every play is reviewed… there’s an independent evaluation of officials, there are ramifications. It’s something we need to continue to work on.” Yet ironically, it was Cunningham’s own GM who had to break the news of a second fine of the season to her.

West Wilson asked her how players learn about fines. Cunningham explained that her GM broke the news to her in front of teammates: “They email our GM and she pulls me aside and says, ‘Sophie, I’ve got to talk to you,’ and this is front of everybody. I’m like, ‘What did I do now?’ And just smiled and she goes, ‘Hey, they’re going to fine you again.’ I was like, I even told them I credited them that their job was hard. I did say that. I said that I would not be good at it. I did say that. Like, look at the whole picture. What are we doing? Ugh. But yeah, so I got fined for that.”

 From Stephanie White to Napheesa Collier and Julie Allemand, who said she felt more “protected” playing in EuroBasket, the dissatisfaction with officiating is widespread. While Sophie now has two fines to her name this season, Engelbert’s comments still signal that the league may finally be taking these concerns more seriously.