Back in June, Sophie Cunningham went viral for pointing directly at Phoenix’s DeWanna Bonner during an on-court scuffle. Three months later, when Las Vegas star A’ja Wilson engaged in her own finger-pointing confrontation, this time with a fan, Cunningham didn’t see the same leniency play out fairly.
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Speaking on the No Hesitation Show, she argued the league let Wilson off easy. Cunningham didn’t hold back when breaking down the incident, which saw Wilson draw only a technical foul for leaving the court to confront a fan during Game 2 of the Aces-Fever series.
“That could have called for a suspension,” Cunningham said. “But she’s like the LeBron James of our league, so of course they’re not going to suspend her. There’s definitely a double standard.”
The comparison comes from a chaotic sequence in the fourth quarter of Game 2, when Wilson collided with Cunningham and drew a foul call. As Cunningham reacted to the whistle, a fan seated near the baseline stood up and pointed at Wilson. Wilson walked toward the fan, shouting “You don’t point at me, you don’t point at me,” before officials issued her a technical foul and arena security removed the fan from the area.
The Indiana Fever later reviewed the footage and determined the fan hadn’t violated the league’s code of conduct, clearing him of any wrongdoing.
Wilson defended her reaction forcefully after the game, telling reporters she wouldn’t tolerate a man stepping toward her and pointing regardless of the context. “I’m not for that,” Wilson said.
As a four-time MVP and arguably the face of the league, Wilson’s stature is exactly what Cunningham argues shielded her from harsher discipline. Cunningham has leaned into the comparison publicly, even joking on TikTok, joking that “the point” was having a comeback year thanks to both her own June incident and Wilson’s September one.
Sophie Cunningham also turned her criticism toward how WNBA players as a whole have responded to the league’s recent surge in attention and fan engagement. “Grow up, what are we doing?” Cunningham said. “We ask all these things and then once people come out and support us, we get mad and then it’s inappropriate.”
Her point ties back to the Fever’s own finding that the fan in question hadn’t actually broken any rules. With the league riding a historic wave of popularity, much of it fueled by exactly the kind of passionate, vocal crowds players have spent years hoping to attract.
Cunningham argued that an occasional heated moment with an engaged fan comes with the territory the league asked for. Rather than something that should trigger outsized consequences for one player and not another.
Between the suspension double standard and her blunt challenge to fellow players, Cunningham’s comments takes the A’ja Wilson incident as part of a larger tension the WNBA will keep navigating as its audience grows. Whether the league agrees with her on the discipline given to Wilson or not, Cunningham has made it clear that she isn’t interested in letting the moment pass quietly, even against a player with Wilson’s standing in the sport.