Sophie Cunningham is once again playing basketball in her own backyard.
The Missouri native, after spending the first six seasons of her WNBA career with the Phoenix Mercury, returned to the Midwest after being traded in February to the Indiana Fever.
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WATCH HERE“My Midwest roots, I’m excited to be around Midwesterners again,” she told reporters after the trade. “It’s my type of people.”
But Cunningham never really left her people.
In 2022, she launched the Sophie Cunningham Classic, a three-day event showcasing the top female high school basketball players in the region, with the goal of helping other athletes from the Midwest remain in the area.
“There's so much talent in the Midwest, and you see all of us always having to go to the East and West Coast to get noticed by scouts,” Cunningham told NBC in an episode of “My New Favorite Baller.” “It keeps the talent in the Midwest.”
She said the tournament attracted more than a dozen top-100 ranked teams, providing essential exposure for local players right in their own Midwestern backyard.
“And I'm not all about just like Missouri,” Cunningham said. “It's Illinois, it's Kansas, it's Oklahoma, it's Tennessee. So, it's just making people come there…. I really do think it’s cool to create a platform, and there’s a market there that no one has tapped into. I’m going all in for these girls.”
And she’ll no longer have to travel from the desert to do so.
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SIGN UP Cunningham played college basketball at the University of Missouri, becoming the program’s all-time leading scorer while guiding the team to four consecutive NCAA Tournaments.
She was drafted No. 13 overall by the Mercury in the 2019 WNBA Draft.
Over six seasons with the Mercury, Cunninham averaged 7.7 points while shooting 36.2% from three in 182 career regular-season games. Playing alongside Diana Taurasi, the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer, and Brittney Griner, she reached the WNBA Finals in 2021.
After being acquired by Indiana in the offseason as part of a four-team trade that sent NaLyssa Smith to Phoenix, the 28-year-old guard now brings veteran leadership to a team that features the sports’ biggest star in Caitlin Clark.
“She has changed our game in the best possible way in every way,” Cunningham told reporters after the trade. “And so, just to be alongside of her and maybe relieve the pressure of being able to shoot and spread the court for her to go do her thing. She’s still young, and I think that Diana took me under her wing and I’ve learned a lot from her, and now I hope to kind of do the same for Caitlin if she wants it. I just think the relationship piece is huge, and when you’re trying to do something great, it takes everybody.”
Cunningham said she was flooded with season-ticket requests in the hours after the trade that brought her back to the Midwest. She now has the opportunity to showcase her own talents in her own backyard like the old days.
“I’m excited to be closer to home,” she said. “I’m excited to deep dive into the community of Indiana… I’m excited to inspire the next generation of young boys and girls around here.”
