The Indiana Fever are on the precipice of greatness, and offseason addition Sophie Cunningham could be the player who pushes the team to the summit.
Cunningham is exactly the type of player Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever needed; really, she's the type of player all 13 WNBA teams could use. But Indiana actually made the move to get Cunningham while the other teams sat idly by. If new coach Stephanie White maximizes Cunningham's skillset, she could swing Indiana's fortune for the better.
After six years in Phoenix, where Cunningham made over 250 3-pointers and finished third in Most Improved Player voting in 2022, she heads to Indy to bring her two-way mentality to a team that finished second-to-last in defensive rating last season at 107.5, above just the Dallas Wings who went 9-31.
"People say I'm '3-and-D, which I've never really considered myself a defensive player, but I think the past couple years, I have been," Cunningham said.
Her stats don't jump off the page; she's averaged 7.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game during her six-year WNBA career. But those numbers undersell her impact, which will be felt instantly in Indiana.
It's time for Clark and Indiana to take the next step, and Cunningham can help
She might not start in Indy, as Clark and Kelsey Mitchell will hold down the backcourt again, but Cunningham is already a popular pick for Sixth Person of the Year. For a young team trying to win a title like Indiana will be in 2025, this is the kind of offseason addition that moves the needle in the fall.
Caitlin Clark makes Indiana competitive by herself. We saw that last year when Indiana went 20-20, the franchise's best season since 2015. But Indiana still needed to fill in the gaps of its roster, and Cunningham is the kind of player who takes pride in filling in the gaps; being everywhere at once and outhustling opponents is Cunningham's whole thing, basically.
Sometimes, I think sports front offices overthink trades; there are tons of reasons not to acquire a player who will help your team, but the one reason to acquire them — the fact they will help your team — should almost always win out in the end.