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Sophie Cunningham gets called out over her Detroit comments
Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Sophie Cunningham continues to happily play the heel for the Indiana Fever, this time with her comments about WNBA expansion.

The WNBA had announced Monday that it would expand to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia for the 2028 season. Asked about the news, Cunningham was enthusiastic about expansion, but questioned the choice of cities, suggesting that Miami, Nashville and Kansas City would have been more popular choices among players.

"You want to listen to your players, too. Where do they want to play? Where are they gonna get excited to play and draw fans?" Cunningham said.

"I do think that Miami would have been a great (location). Nashville is an amazing city. Kansas City, amazing opportunity.

"... I'm not so sure what the thought process is there, but at the end of the day, you want to make sure that you're not expanding our league too fast. I think that that's also another thing.

"It's kind of a hard decision-making situation. But man, I don't know how excited people are to be going to Detroit or (Cleveland)."

Naturally, fans from Detroit and Cleveland were quick to criticize Cunningham’s comments. Cleveland fans were even more irate since she seemingly confused the city with Cincinnati.

One public rebuke came from Detroit Lions offensive lineman Dan Skipper. Skipper, a cult hero in Detroit, suggested Cunningham did not know anything about the city, but would inevitably find out soon enough.

“You ever been there? Pretty good place to play, well not for you now,” Skipper wrote on X.

Cunningham has become quite popular recently for playing enforcer on behalf of teammate Caitlin Clark. These comments will only make Fever fans like her more, but she might already be setting up a personal rivalry with two future WNBA squads.

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

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