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Fever Make Sudden Sophie Cunningham Change on Wednesday

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Chris Phelps | Last updated May 21, 2025 6:59 PM ET

After a dominant 2025 WNBA season-opening win against the Chicago Sky, Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever have fallen back down to Earth.

On Tuesday night, the Fever suffered their first loss of the new season, falling to Brittney Griner and the Atlanta Dream 91-90.

Sophie Cunningham, acquired by Indiana from the Phoenix Mercury in an offseason trade, has been sidelined for the Fever's first two games. The sharpshooter suffered an ankle injury in the preseason finale and was seen wearing a walking boot afterward.

Indiana will get another shot at the Dream on Thursday, traveling to Atlanta this time, but the Fever could be without their new guard once again.

Per Indy Star's Chloe Peterson, the Fever initially ruled Cunningham out for Thursday night's game on the 5 p.m. ET injury report Wednesday.

"Sophie Cunningham is listed as OUT for Indiana's game at Atlanta tomorrow," Peterson wrote on X. "(Stephanie White) was hopeful she could be in uniform at practice earlier today, but the Fever listed her as out at the 5 p.m. injury report."

However, less than 30 minutes after the initial injury report, Indiana changed her status to questionable against the Dream.

"An update: The Fever have amended their injury report to list Sophie Cunningham as QUESTIONABLE for tomorrow at Atlanta," Peterson wrote in a separate X post.

An update: The Fever have amended their injury report to list Sophie Cunningham as QUESTIONABLE for tomorrow at Atlanta. https://t.co/YhUrmZTrBT
— Chloe Peterson (@chloepeterson67) May 21, 2025

The Fever could have used Cunningham's 36.2% career 3-point shooting in Tuesday's loss to Atlanta. Outside of last year's All-Star trio of Clark, Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell, the rest of the team was only able to score a combined 15 points.

The former Missouri standout showed her scoring potential in her preseason debut with the Fever, tallying 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting to go with eight rebounds.

The Fever will face the Dream in round two on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET at State Farm Arena. Despite the loss on Tuesday, Indiana is still a 3.5-point favorite (ESPN Bet).

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

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