Entering the 2026 season, the message on the wall was clear for the Indiana Fever: play better defense and score consistently. While its Big Three in Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, and Aliyah Boston have helped improve on the latter, Sophie Cunningham has been on a tear on both ends. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that when the second All-Star voting tally came out, she made leaps. Yet, one thing continues to frustrate her.
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“I think AB, Caitlin, and Kel are all up there. That’s great. They should be,” Cunningham said on her Show Me Something podcast. “And we’re not even playing good basketball yet, which blows me. It’s driving me nuts.”
In the recently released All-Star voting, Cunningham was ranked 15th with a whopping 237,526. That is a major spike from the first return, where Cunningham was 17th with only 76,988 votes. Currently, Cunningham stands seventh among guards in this voting.
Meanwhile, Caitlin Clark jumped to No. 2 in the voting after an underwhelming first vote, while Boston leads the league. Mitchell is ninth as well. All three are expected to become All-WNBA players yet again. However, Cunningham refused to celebrate this achievement because of the team’s recent challenges.
Despite this star-studded roster, the Fever are 11-8 and rank seventh in the league. Their biggest issues — turning the ball over, not defending well, and losing consistency over the four periods — keep popping up. When facing bigger opponents, say, the New York Liberty, they play with more urgency, which they lose halfway through the game. On the other hand, when facing an equal or an under-.500 team they don’t apply as much urgency and loses.
That has been an issue that even Caitlin Clark pointed out: the Fever needs consistency through the entire 40 minutes. And the numbers support it.
They are the top-scoring team at 93.9 points per game with the third-best 47.7 percent shooting from the field. But the Fever is also conceding 90 points per game, which is the third worst among all teams. In addition, the way the Fever have lost games has been uninspiring.
Sophie Cunningham and Co. have lost four games by only five points or fewer. They are the eighth team in WNBA history to lose multiple games despite scoring 100+ points.
The defense is leaky, while the offense is largely on three wheels with Clark out injured with back issues. While the Fever managed to blow past the LA Sparks this Saturday without Clark, they have become stagnant without her in the past. She is responsible for over 40 percent of the team’s total score through scoring or assisting. That assist rate drops from 67% to 62% without her.
Now, they do have Cunningham, whose outside shooting has already been lethal. Head coach Stephanie White might need her to attempt more three-pointers per game. Tyasha Harris already impressed with her second start of the season. All the team now needs is to continue the winning streak, Clark or not. Maybe then, the Fever’s enforcer would be able to enjoy her All-Star ranking finally.
