Sophie Cunningham’s Unlikely Path to WNBA Stardom

In the 30 days since Sophie Cunningham directed a prolonged point at DeWanna Bonner—and became a viral meme in the process—the Indiana Fever guard has gained more than a million followers on both Instagram and TikTok, according to digital analytics firm Social Blade.

For comparison, fellow Fever guard and WNBA megastar Caitlin Clark gained roughly 160,000 followers on Instagram during the same period. Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers and Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese—other faces of the league—gained approximately 8,500 and lost around 3,000, respectively.  

Though Cunningham’s freshly supercharged Instagram follower count of 2.6 million is still well behind that of Clark (3.8 million), Bueckers (3 million) and Reese (5.2 million), her engagement rate—a metric of utmost importance to advertisers and brand partners—is much higher. Per Social Blade, Cunningham averages approximately 300,000 likes and 3,000 comments per post on the platform; Bueckers’s typical engagement—235,000 likes and 1,000 comments a post—is the next closest. 

This isn’t Cunningham’s first surge since joining the Fever last year.

The guard—who had a relatively low profile during her six previous seasons with the Phoenix Mercury—earned a reputation as Caitlin Clark’s “enforcer” after getting into a brawl with then-Connecticut Sun guard Jacy Sheldon during a June 2025 Commissioner’s Cup game. Shortly after the incident, Cunningham launched a podcast with Colin Cowherd’s digital media network, The Volume. (The podcast, called Show Me Something, is cohosted by Cunningham’s high school classmate West Wilson, formerly of Bravo’s Summer House.)

While she experienced roughly equal follower growth after her enforcer moment last summer, the jump only propelled her to semi-mainstream status. In contrast, this latest spike places Cunningham firmly among the WNBA’s most-followed players on Instagram, passing up established stars such as A’ja Wilson (1.5 million) and Sabrina Ionescu (1.4 million), as well as young, digital-native talent like Flau’jae Johnson (2 million) and Cameron Brink (1.3 million). 

General interest is much higher this time around, too: ESPN published a 4,000-word profile on Cunningham earlier this week, and searches for “Sophie Cunningham” are up 130% year-over-year, according to Google Trends data. Two of the five best-selling jerseys on the WNBA’s official storefront, meanwhile, currently belong to Cunningham.

It all begs a big question: How will the eighth-year guard, who has a career average of 8.0 points per game, personally capitalize on this next-level notoriety?

The most immediate and obvious answer is to push merchandise tied to her viral finger-point, which she is free to do as long as no official league logos or branding are used. (Earlier this week, a WNBPA spokesperson told Front Office Sports that it prohibits its dozens of official licensee partners from monetizing any moments involving confrontation between players.) 

A representative for Cunningham did not immediately respond to a request for comment about her plans to launch any products, pointing-meme-related or otherwise. But the guard’s recent side quests suggest she has serious show business ambitions. 

After making her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut in May, Cunningham took up another modeling role as a ring girl at UFC 329 in Las Vegas on July 11. In a post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White revealed the stint was not preplanned, but happened organically thanks to the “relationship” the two have “created.” (Cunningham was in town with the Fever to play the Aces the next day.) Still, her ringside interest isn’t totally random; in a December 2025 episode of her podcast, she expressed a desire to one day join WWE.

Cunningham also joined USA Network as a WNBA contributor and part-time studio analyst this season—a role that a handful of her peers have since taken on with other platforms. 

Her newfound ubiquity, however, has also fueled polarization. On multiple occasions over the last month, official Trump Administration X/Twitter accounts have shared images and videos of the pointing meme without any pushback from Cunningham, which some social media users view as her endorsing a MAGA worldview. 

In her ESPN profile, Cunningham described her politics as “very much in the middle,” but she did make her stance on trans athlete participation known: “I want to protect young girls in a locker room,” Cunningham told writer Hallie Grossman, “or young girls in a sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.” Speaking to reporters in Indianapolis after the profile was published, the former Missouri star doubled down on her stance. 

Taking to Instagram on Thursday, she seemingly tripled down: “I said what I said,” she captioned a post of her doing a pregame walk.

Cunningham’s comments sparked backlash.

Them’s Quispe López noted that, even though brief, her wording contained “multiple anti-trans dog whistles,” including the language of “protection.” High Post Hoops’s Stephanie Kaloi wrote: “The phrase ’biological men’ or ’biological women’ in this context is often used in a way that is derogatory and, frankly, mean,” adding that Cunningham’s comments “at best, indicate a lack of understanding about the health and lives of transgender girls and women, and they also support an ideology that is considered transphobic by many allies and members of the LGBTQ+ community.”

Still, the criticism hasn’t done much to slow her social media skyrocket: In the two days since the article was published, Cunningham has netted roughly 50,000 new followers on Instagram and 100,000 on TikTok, once again according to Social Blade data. (The comments also earned her a high-profile supporter in Stephen A. Smith, who defended her stance on his SiriusXM show Thursday afternoon.)

The only area where Cunningham seems immune to constant growth—at least as of late—is her Show Me Something podcast cohosted by now-ex-Summer House cast member Wilson, who left the popular Bravo TV show earlier this year after a romantic scandal. The podcast averages between 10,000 and 60,000 views per show on YouTube, and it has yet to notch more than 50,000 listens on a single one of its 48 episodes on Spotify.

The specific terms of Cunningham and West’s deal with The Volume are unknown. The media network could not immediately be reached for comment about long-term plans for the show or its intentions to retain Cunningham as a talent. 

Nevertheless, Cunningham’s 12-month rise from solid but unspectacular bench player to one of the WNBA’s most famous figures is remarkable. If she benefited from an association with Clark last summer, this summer Cunningham has created a presence entirely her own—one that is poised to prove lucrative no matter her on-court circumstances. 

Case in point: As the basketball world descends upon Chicago for the WNBA’s 2026 All-Star weekend, Cunningham—who is averaging a respectable 9.3 points in 22.9 minutes per game this season—won’t be participating in the exhibition. But she will be nearby in Romeoville, Illinois, on July 24, to promote the launch of her first player-exclusive shoe with Adidas.