Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) runs around the court in excitement on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
For better or worse, Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham has been the most-talked-about player in the WNBA in recent weeks.
That hasn’t always sat well with Cunningham’s opponents. Most notably, Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington and New York Liberty forward Jonquel Jones, both of whom took hard shots at Cunningham on the court.
While both players received upgraded fouls for their dust-ups with Cunningham, the incidents also came with some serious repercussions for the offending players.
WNBA Is Fining Players Who Have Committed Hard Fouls Against Sophie Cunningham
Carrington was handed a Flagrant 2 foul and was immediately ejected from the game between the Fever and Sky. After the ejection, she took to social media to state that “white privilege” played a role in the incident.
However, she failed to elaborate on what exactly she meant by that.
Additionally, Carrington was handed a $1,000 fine by the WNBA.
During the third quarter of Indiana’s 106-92 victory over Jones and the New York Liberty, she and Cunningham got into a quarrel. Cunningham was called for a holding foul, which then escalated into a confrontation between her and Jones.
In the fallout, Jones was whistled for a technical foul, her first of the year. Should the league opt not to rescind the technical foul, as they did recently for Caitlin Clark, Jones would be forced to pay a $500 fine.
Notably, Cunningham was not assessed a technical foul for her role in the altercation. That could well be what Carrington meant when she told reporters that she “would just love consistency across the board” when it comes to the WNBA’s enforcement.
Jones and Carrington won’t be the last players to get into it with Cunningham, who has three technical fouls of her own this season. But any player who does should know that they’re facing financial implications.