Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

LeBron James' Former Teammate Had Words for Sophie Cunningham

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | Last updated Jul 1, 2025 11:27 PM ET

The WNBA made a big announcement on Monday morning. As the league continues to grow in popularity and revenue, it is growing in size as well.

With the Golden State Valkyries in their inaugural season, the league announced three new WNBA franchises are on the way. Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia are the three cities set to receive teams.

This news was generally met with excitement from WNBA fans, but one league figure in particular had a controversial take. Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham pushed back against the idea that players will enjoy playing in Detroit and Cleveland ( via Yahoo Sports).

These two historic cities have a lot of passionate sports fans who made their displeasure known with what Cunningham had to say. Several athletes have also weighed in, including 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers NBA champion Tristan Thompson.

"Cleveland is an unbelievable sports town, with great people, great restaurants, and its great for outdoor/nature activities. Still surprises me to see people say stuff like this," he said.

Cleveland is an unbelievable sports town, with great people, great restaurants, and its great for outdoor/nature activities . Still surprises me to see people say stuff like this https://t.co/LsUCEOiSpY
— Tristan Thompson (@RealTristan13) July 2, 2025

Thompson has spent most of his NBA career in Cleveland, including alongside LeBron James on that 2016 championship team. He also had another brief stint with James on the Los Angeles Lakers in 2023.

Like Thompson did on Tuesday, James has always spoken highly of Cleveland, which is near his hometown of Akron, Ohio. The 2003 No. 1 overall pick of the Cavaliers said in 2018 that Northeast Ohio will always be his home despite his departure to Los Angeles that year (via USA Today).

Cleveland and Detroit both have NBA, NFL, and MLB teams with significant fan backing. And those are just the major sports leagues. The cities have much more to offer, both sporting wise and in other areas.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: