Sophie Cunningham gives blunt take on why Fever fell out of playoffs

The Indiana Fever made it to the first round of the 2026 WNBA playoffs, but their postseason run ended quickly against the Las Vegas Aces in a best-of-three series. When a team gets eliminated, there's always plenty of "could have" and "should have" talk, along with an honest look at what went wrong.

Fever star Sophie Cunningham is now opening up about the elimination. Speaking on her "No Hesitation" podcast, Cunningham looked back on the team's successful season and suggested the FIBA break may have been one reason Indiana couldn't quite keep things going.

First, Cunningham talked about what a great season it was for the Fever, saying, "We were so good, and it was so much fun. It was so much fun, and the squad really loved each other."

Sophie Cunningham thinks the FIBA break hurt the Fever's momentum

Then, she pointed to the FIBA break as a possible turning point.

"I don't want to say this. I think FIBA kind of hurt our momentum a little bit," Cunningham said. "Maybe we peaked too soon. I don't even know if that's a real thing. Peaking too soon. Peaking too late."

It's certainly possible that the timing of the WNBA's World Cup hiatus worked against Indiana. The Fever had started to find their footing before the break, winning five of their final eight games. After the break, Indiana continued its push toward the playoffs, but it was 2-2 before the postseason. So, it wasn't as good a showing as before the break.

The Fever then faced Las Vegas and couldn't get past them. Even so, the season marked a major offensive breakthrough for Indiana, and that's a great sign for this franchise.