Sophie Cunningham prioritized team connection over contract length, but admits a multi-year deal would have offered greater stability with her beloved Indiana Fever.
WNBA guard Sophie Cunningham is happy to be back with the Indiana Fever.
She just wishes her new contract was more than one year.
Cunningham signed a one-year, $665,000 contract to return to the Fever. She cleared the air about comments she made on her podcast on Monday about not getting a multi-year deal.
"It made me sound snotty and ungrateful and that is the last thing I ever want," Cunningham said on Tuesday. "I am so grateful. I know I'm coming off a pretty big knee injury and so it was never about the money. It was just about the years because I wanted to be with them. God forbid a girl loves her teammates."
A clip circulated on social media of Cunningham expressing frustration on her podcast that she wasn't offered multiple years when she believed she had established herself at this point in her career. "I'm not even going to lie to you," Cunningham said on the podcast, "that was a little kind of frustrating."
That, however, didn't include the context of Cunningham acknowledging she was coming off a season-ending torn MCL suffered last season. She said that, despite being cleared by doctors, she felt there was some hesitation by the Fever to sign her long-term because of the injury.
Cunningham said she was fully cleared in February and that she feels amazing. She averaged 8.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game last season while shooting 43.2% from beyond the arc.
Cunningham said she received multi-year offers from other teams but didn't want to leave the Fever.
"I'm almost 30 years old," Cunningham said Tuesday. "I want to have a home. I want to kind of get established. And I would love to get established in a place like Indiana. We had such a great time. When you find a group of girls who really make you fall in love with basketball again, and you enjoy it and you enjoy them -- not only on the court, but off the court -- you want to hold on to that. And so that's what I meant by that.
"All of them this morning, they're like, 'We know exactly what you meant.' The internet is doing what the internet does, and it's trying to stir things up."
The Fever went 24-20 last season. They will be a title contender this season with superstar Caitlin Clark back from injury.