“They Said I Flopped”: Sophie Cunningham Breaks Silence After Taking Elbow to the Head in Heated Fever-Sun Clash

Tensions flared once again between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night, and at the center of it all—again—was Sophie Cunningham.

In a physical matchup that was already simmering with bad blood from previous encounters, Fever guard Sophie Cunningham found herself on the receiving end of a brutal elbow to the head from Connecticut’s Olivia Nelson-Ododa. The incident occurred as Cunningham trailed Sun rookie Leïla Lacan to the elbow, only to get caught squarely by Nelson-Ododa’s right arm as it swung out with force. The elbow connected flush with Cunningham’s head, knocking her off balance and sending her briefly to the floor.

What happened next only fueled the outrage.

Despite standing mere feet away, the referee did not call a foul or stop the play. The game continued, Cunningham picked herself up without protest, and the whistle remained silent. Fans watching in real time and online were shocked—not just by the physical contact, but by the official’s apparent indifference.

“She got clocked right in front of the ref,” one fan tweeted. “This league needs to protect its players.”

The hit could have easily been reviewed as a flagrant foul, especially considering its direct impact to the head and the visibility of the contact. Instead, the league let play roll on as if nothing happened. But while Cunningham kept her composure in the moment, she didn’t stay silent for long.

After the game, she took to social media to respond with her trademark bite.

“They said I flopped. el oh el,” she wrote on X, laughing off the suggestion that she embellished the contact. For anyone who saw the clip, the idea of flopping seemed absurd—Cunningham was clearly rocked by the elbow and fell in real-time, no theatrics involved.

The timing of the incident is no coincidence. The Fever-Sun rivalry has quietly become one of the WNBA’s most physical and dramatic matchups this season. Just weeks ago, Cunningham was ejected after committing a flagrant 2 foul on Connecticut guard Jacy Sheldon, which led to a scuffle that also saw Sheldon and teammate Lindsay Allen hit with technicals and tossed from the game.

Tuesday’s hit felt like a continuation of that unresolved tension.

Fortunately for the Fever, they had the last laugh. Behind a strong team performance—and a gritty showing from Cunningham herself, who dropped 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting off the bench—Indiana secured an 85-77 win over the Sun. The victory was much needed as the Fever look to regain rhythm mid-season, and Cunningham’s presence helped energize the team on both ends.

But the questions around league officiating—and player safety—remain.

If a player can take an elbow to the head right in front of an official and receive no whistle, what message does that send? Particularly when it involves a player like Cunningham, who has a reputation for being physical and outspoken. Is she being unfairly penalized by perception? Or worse—ignored when she’s the one being fouled?

Cunningham’s postgame reaction might have been short, but it spoke volumes. The sarcasm, the disbelief, the underlying frustration—it all points to a player who knows she’s being targeted, not just by opponents, but potentially by officiating bias as well.

Meanwhile, fans are sounding the alarm louder than ever.

“If that happened to Caitlin Clark, the whole building would stop,” another fan wrote. “Sophie deserves the same protection.”

Whether the league responds remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: the Fever and Sun aren’t done with each other yet. Every time they step on the floor, it’s personal. And for Sophie Cunningham, it’s no longer just about basketball—it’s about standing her ground, taking the hits, and firing back with points, not protests.