Sophie Cunningham’s pointing gesture at DeWanna Bonner broke the internet for about two weeks this summer. The commercial world was playing close attention and Adidas noticed. The Indiana Fever guard is now getting her first Adidas player-exclusive colorway, the Crazy Energy Sophie Cunningham PE, dropping July 24 for $120. Her teammate Lexie Hull had one-line take when the news came out.
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“Go, girl! Adidas took too long,” Hull wrote on X on July 11.
A year ago, Cunningham was making headlines for playing in Adidas shoes that retailed for around $45. The fan response was affectionate, but the story was about affordability. Then the Bonner moment happened, the clip spread to every corner of the internet, and figures from Tom Brady to the White House account picked up the gesture. Cunningham’s Instagram sits at two million followers. She hosts a podcast. She averages 9.1 points per game off the bench. The shoe is not a reward for her stats, and Adidas is not pretending it is.
The Crazy Energy Sophie Cunningham PE is a player-exclusive colorway, which means it is a custom iteration of an existing Adidas silhouette rather than a signature shoe. And that distinction matters. Adidas has not granted a full signature shoe to a WNBA player since Candace Parker, and this release does not change that. What it does signal is that Adidas sees Cunningham’s profile as worth putting resources behind, and in the sneaker industry, a PE is typically the step that precedes a deeper conversation. Satou Sabally’s Crazy Energy PE also drops on July 24, and Chelsea Gray has one in the same silhouette. But Cunningham’s carries a different kind of attention because of the cultural moment driving it.
The colorway itself fits the person. It runs from dark purple at the toe through hot pink across the upper, fading into cream at the heel, with light blue through the mesh side panels and orange on the midsole and outsole. The insoles carry a custom illustration of Cunningham. It is loud and unapologetic in the same way she tends to be.
The release also drops the day before the WNBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis on July 25, which means Cunningham will be in her home building when the shoe hits shelves. That timing is unlikely to be accidental.
Cunningham Joins Her Teammate Caitlin Clark In An Exclusive Club
Cunningham’s release does not exist in isolation. It is part of a broader shift in how brands are approaching WNBA players, and her teammate Caitlin Clark is the most visible marker of where that shift is heading.
Clark signed with Nike in 2024 and debuted her first signature shoe, the Nike Caitlin 1, last month. It hits the market on October 1. Clark holds a true signature deal, which places her among a historically small group of WNBA players to receive that from Nike.
Cunningham and Clark are at different points in that commercial conversation, but they are part of the same story. Five years ago, the idea of two players on the same WNBA roster each having a major shoe brand invested in their individual identity would have been unlikely.
The question the July 24 release will start to answer is whether Cunningham’s profile can sustain that investment beyond the moment that created it, and whether Adidas is ready to take the next step with her when the time comes.