Sophie Cunningham blasts WNBA refs over special treatment of Paige Bueckers: ‘That shit is so annoying’

Sophie Cunningham has already been fined once before earlier this season for commenting on officials online, previously having done so on TikTok. Now, the WNBA may be sending another one her way for what she said on Wednesday’s episode of her new podcast.

On ‘Show Me Something’ yesterday, her new podcast at The Volume, Cunningham spoke about the Indiana Fever’s recent game against the Dallas Wings, led by Paige Bueckers, on Tuesday night. It began fine as she just spoke on the defense that she and her team played on Bueckers in the 81-80 loss.

“That’s good,” Cunningham said of helping to hold Bueckers to 6-19 (31.6%) FG.

“Well, yeah, kinda,” said Cunningham of getting Bueckers out of rhythm. “Her and a girl named Maddy (Siegrist)? They went off, and so those were the ones we had to stop.”

However, that’s when it turned to the league’s referees for the game. Cunningham prefaced it by complimenting Bueckers but then went in on those officials for the favorable whistle that she thinks they gave to her, especially compared to the one given to her teammates with Indiana.

“But, like, I love Paige to death. Do not get me wrong. I think, like, again, she’s a hell of a player and would, like, love to play with her one day. But, those refs were giving her every freakin’ whistle last night,” said Cunningham. “Like, you literally couldn’t touch her, couldn’t touch her and that s*** is so annoying to me. And, if you’re going to do that, then give it to our guards. Like, I just hate the inconsistency.”

In the one-point win in Indianapolis, Bueckers, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft and overwhelming favorite to be Rookie of the Year, scored 16 points (31.6% FG, 0-4 3PT) with eight assists, five rebounds, two steals, and four turnovers. Still, Bueckers went to the stripe and made all four of her attempts from the free-throw line as she drew fouls during the game, namely a flagrant one on her in the first quarter by Cunningham herself. That brought her to 110 free-throw attempts on the year, which averages out to 4.2 trips to the line per game.

Again, this likely has less to do with Bueckers as it does as a whole with officials in the WNBA, with Cunningham not being the only player to have commented on them over the course of the summer. Cunningham has particularly had things to say about it, between her posts on socials and her verbal defenses of teammates for their lack of fouls drawn and free-throw attempts, like Caitlin Clark.

Cunningham hasn’t been afraid to speak her thoughts, especially now that her presence online has grown. This just might be another instance where she hears from the league about it considering the criticism again of their officials.