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Before June 17, 2025, Sophie Cunningham was a solid WNBA role player in her seventh season, and first with her new team, the Indiana Fever. She'd had a distinguished (and also controversial!) career at the University of Missouri, and a solid, if unspectacular, run with the Phoenix Mercury. Then her teammate Caitlin Clark got poked in the eye during a game against the Connecticut Sun. Cunningham took out the offending opponent on a subsequent play, turning Cunningham into the WNBA's most famous enforcer, and an unexpected (if not entirely unwilling) figure in America's ongoing culture wars.
This summer, as the discourse around Clark heated up to new degrees, Cunningham's seen her own popularity skyrocket. She's been featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit special, was a ring girl at UFC 329, she's got her own Adidas PE coming out on July 24, and is (jokingly?) being talked about as a potential future vice presidential candidate. And of course she's authored one of the most fun mom memes of all-time. But how much do you know about the WNBA's blond gadfly, aka MAGA Barbie? Here's 10 Things You Didn't Know About Sophie Cunningham.
She's Arguably the Most Decorated Basketball Player in Mizzou HistoryIn the past 20 years, the Mizzou Women's basketball team has reached the NCAA Tourney exactly four times: the four seasons Cunningham played with the team. Cunningham started all 129 games she played at Missouri, finished as the school's all-time leading women's scorer, and is second only to Derrick Chievous on the combined men's and women's list. Doug Smith (2000+ points and 1000+ rebounds) is the other Tiger in the GTOAT conversation, but given that Cunningham single-handedly returned the women's program to relevance and its immediate fall-off after her departure, there's a strong argument she had the greatest impact.
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Her Mizzou Athletics Roots Run Very Deep
Cunningham grew up on a family farm in Rocheport, Missouri and was the 13th pick in the 2019 WNBA Draft after playing four seasons at the University of Missouri. At Mizzou she was SEC Freshman of the Year in 2016 and All-SEC First team from 2017-19. Both of her parents were athletes at UM (her father played football and her mom was a javelin thrower) and her aunt played basketball on the 1990 Big Eight Championship-winning team.
She's Not Just a Basketball PlayerBefitting someone with such deep athletic roots, Cunningham's exploits are not confined to the hardwood. Cunningham earned a black belt in taekwondo at the age of 6 (and you can see it in her clinical clinch position from her infamous takedown of Jacy Sheldon). Cunningham also kicked two field goals for her high school's football team (yes, "boys" football) while she herself was injured.
She Was No Stranger to Controversy, Even in College Pt. 1It's ironic that Cunningham has become Caitlin Clark's enforcer, because in college she was accused of hard fouls and dirty play against other superstars, and even coaches. In January, 2018, during Cunningham's junior season, Missouri upset then-No. 4 South Carolina at home, with Cunningham going for 27 points. But she also repeatedly mugged for the crowd and was accused of throwing an elbow to the back of superstar A'ja Wilson. Three weeks later the Gamecocks beat the Tigers in South Carolina, with the teams engaging in a second quarter shoving match. Naturally, Cunningham was at the center of the scrum. Afterward, Missouri AD Jim Sterk claimed Missouri players were spit upon and called the N-word, and accused South Carolina coach Dawn Staley of [promoting] that kind of atmosphere. Staley subsequently sued Sterk for defamation and the AD was fined $25,000 by the SEC. Cunningham wasn't named in the suit but she seemed to relish her role as the instigator. Analyst and Basketball Hall of Famer Rebecca Lobo commented, "She's physical, and she's aggressive, and she's annoying," adjectives that a lot of today's armchair commenters might apply to Caitlin Clark's opponents.
She Was No Stranger to Controversy, Even in College Pt. 2The following season, Cunningham and Mizzou visited traditional women's basketball powerhouse Tennessee and upset the Volunteers, 66-64, with Cunningham going for 20 points and 6 assists. Cunningham also picked up a technical foul for elbowing the Vols' Rennia Davis in the face, and later was seen clapping in the face of Tennessee head coach Holly Warlick and beefing with Warlick in the handshake line.
Her Best WNBA Season Was in 2022After being drafted by the Phoenix Mercury in 2019, Cunningham was primarily a bench player, averaging fewer than 20 minutes per game through her first three seasons. After a strong finish to the ‘21 campaign where she helped the Mercury reach the WNBA Finals (including a 21-point game in a second round win over the Liberty), Cunningham had her breakthrough season in ‘22, starting 20 of 28 games and setting career highs that still stand in minutes played (29.5/game), points (12.6/game), and rebounds (4.4/game).
She Was Mixing It Up in the WNBA Before She Was Caitlin Clark's TeammateHere's Cunningham tussling with the Chicago Sky's Kahleah Copper in the 2021 WNBA Finals. Here's her with a hard foul on the Dallas Wings' Satou Sabally from the 2023 regular season. Here she is picking up two techs against the Minnesota Lynx in 2024. Here she is taking a shoulder to the jaw on a moving screen from Emma Cannon in 2023. And here she is getting in the face of Myisha Hines-Allen (a current Fever teammate!) after being stepped over in 2024. File this away for when someone tries to claim that the fouls against Caitlin Clark are something new in the WNBA.
Her Career in Media Started Before She Was Caitlin Clark's TeammateIn 2022, while still with the Phoenix Mercury, Cunningham started her career in media as a guest analyst for the NBA's Phoenix Suns. She eventually became known as "Spicy Sophie" for her unvarnished takes, and filled in as a color commentator for a game against the Sacramento Kings in January 2024 and later that month subbed in for the full-time sideline reporter when they called in sick.
Last Year She Was Wearing $45 Sneakers on the Court; This Year She's Got Her Own PEBefore entering the larger culture wars discourse as Clark's enforcer following her hit on Jacy Sheldon, Cunningham was a WNBA role player. Her on-court footwear reflected those workwomanlike roots. In the June 2025 where she rocketed to stardom clotheslining Sheldon, Cunningham was hooping in a pair of Adidas Women's Exhibit Select 2.0s that were available on Amazon at that time for $45. Fast forward a year, and she's debuting her own Crazy Energy PE with Adidas on July 24.
Is She MAGA? Well, She's Not Jaxson Dart Out-and-Proud MAGACunningham actually picked up the nickname "MAGA Barbie" back in her Missouri playing days, apparently on the strength of some social media follows (Candace Owens, The Daily Wire) and engagement with other politically conservative posters. Where she stands on the issues isn't clear, although she confirmed her stance against trans women participating in women's sports during a recent interview with ESPN. "I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I'm like, 'I never once said that,'" she told ESPN. "I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn't have to go against biological men."
She later said, "I'm very much in the middle. I agree with things on both sides, disagree with things on both sides. And that's all I've ever said about my political beliefs. But people love to assume."
