Here's an Update on Sophie Cunningham's Ankle Injury Amid Season Opener Miss
"Your trade from the Mercury to the Fever had more layers than a homemade Italian lasagna."
Published May 21 2025, 1:10 p.m. ET
Injuries are an unfortunate way of life for professional athletes. The level of severity can range from inconvenient and annoying to life-altering and career-ending. Most injuries fall somewhere in the middle.
Like the ankle injury sustained by WNBA Indiana Fever star player Sophie Cunningham.
The 28-year-old player was sidelined after a mid-May 2025 injury that left fans wondering when she would return to the game. Here's what we know about Sophie's injury update and why people are buzzing about a rumored second reason for her low profile as the 2025 season kicked off.
Here's an update on Sophie Cunningham's ankle injury.
On May 10, Indiana Fever was playing in a preseason training game against Atlanta Dream. Fever fans were just breathing a sigh of relief that Caitlin Clark wasn't going to be impacted in the season by some issues with her quad when another player came out of nowhere to kneecap their dreams of a strong start to 2025.
Sophie landed wrong after a jump, rolling her ankle under the net. She limped off the court and didn't return for the rest of the game. So when will she be back?
Unfortunately for fans, she was still sidelined when the Fever played their season opener on May 17, 2025, against the Dream.
Coach Stephanie White couldn't update fans on when exactly Sophie would return to the game, but explained, “It’s going to be a day-to-day thing, just seeing how she recovers. Just day-to-day. I'll depend on our training staff to tell me what she's capable of doing every day, and we'll see how it goes" (excerpt via Sports Illustrated).
For now, all fans can do is wait.
Some fans suspect the injury isn't the real reason Sophie is laying low as affair rumors swirl.
Meanwhile, some fans are not convinced that it's the ankle keeping Sophie down.
There's a rumor flying around that Sophie was involved in an affair with a key sports administration figure which the rumors suggest is why she ended up transferring out from the Phoenix Mercury.
A lawsuit against Suns and Mercury CEO Josh Bartelstein has unearthed the allegation that he was having an affair with Sophie. In the lawsuit, according to the New York Post, Suns employee and former director of safety Gene Traylor claims that he told Bartelstein that the team's vice president of security (Cornelius Craig) was going around saying that Bartelstein had been sleeping with Sophie.
The lawsuit, filed against Suns Legacy Partners, LLC, alleges racial discrimination and harassment, unlawful retaliation, and security issues.
The lawsuit reads in part "Plaintiff also shared with Bartelstein that Craig had been spreading damaging information that could jeopardize the organization. When Bartelstein asked Plaintiff to reveal what Craig was saying, Plaintiff explained that Craig had been telling others, ‘Josh Bartelstein is f--king Sophie Cunningham'" (via New York Post).
The Suns released a statement calling rumors of Bartelstein and Sophie's alleged affair "entirely false and morally reprehensible."
While Sophie seems to be recovering from her ankle injury, fans aren't entirely convinced. Some are claiming that the reason she transferred from Mercury to Fever and the reason she's now laying low are one and the same: the alleged affair and the lawsuit going public.
In one preseason update shared to social media on Sophie's account, one fan wrote, "Your trade from the Mercury to the Fever had more layers than a homemade Italian lasagna. You just feeding into the stigma and stereotype that women can’t make more money without sleeping around. Congrats."
Another wrote, "Now I understand why you left PHX."
Nonetheless, Sophie seems focused on getting back to 100 percent so she can join her new team on the court during the regular season. While fan chatter is rife with rumors and speculation, all they can do is wait and see when she gets back in the game.