Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham fueled her team’s rivalry with the Las Vegas Aces as she took a dig at A’ja Wilson ahead of their Game 3 showdown.
The sixth-seeded Fever face the No. 3 Aces in a do-or-die Game in the first round of the playoffs on Thursday with both teams looking to keep their postseason alive.
And the clash, which would see either team progress to the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs with a win, may now come with extra tension.
Cunningham fanned the flames when she took a dig at Wilson on Wednesday over her Game 2 outburst at a fan.
The reigning MVP was seen erupting at a Fever fan in the second row of Gainbridge Fieldhouse during the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s Game 2.
Cunningham appeared to troll the Aces superstar over the incident in a TikTok video shared on Wednesday, expressing her amazement about the ‘comeback year for the point.’
Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham (left) appeared to troll rival A’ja Wilson (right)
Las Vegas Aces superstar Wilson was caught in a heated confrontation with a fan on Tuesday
‘Not trying to be dramatic at all, like seriously,’ she started off saying. ‘I was just here having my morning coffee and what a damn comeback year for the ‘point.’ Who would have ever thought? Just who would have ever thought?’
The video was likely referencing her own ‘point,’ which Cunningham did towards Phoenix Mercury player DeWanna Bonner, which sparked on-court contention and went viral.
It also appeared to be a reference to Wilson’s altercation with the fan, who allegedly recreated Cunningham’s point pose towards the WNBA star.
Wilson claimed following the game that the fan in question had pointed at her. In footage of the incident, the man appeared to say ‘That’s on you,’ as he took two small steps towards her.
Wilson then stormed toward the fan and began jabbing her finger at him as she screamed something at him.
It is unclear what she said in the exchange but two of her teammates, an assistant coach and security quickly moved to separate everyone.
The fan was eventually escorted from courtside by security staff with Indiana leading 90-79 with 4:10 to play. Wilson was assessed a technical foul but was not ejected.
‘Following a report of a comment directed toward a player, arena security spoke with the fan involved and witnesses,’ the Fever said in a statement via Fox. ‘Security determined there was no violation of the Fan Code of Conduct, the fan was not removed from the arena. We consider the matter closed.’
The reigning MVP was seen erupting at the man, pointing at him and saying something to him
Wilson has to be pulled back by her teammates and staff before being assessed a tech
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The reigning MVP addressed the incident in her postgame press conference, branding the man’s actions ‘unacceptable.’
‘I’m not going to get into the bulls***. I’m just trying to play my game,’ she began. ‘But if I’m just walking cause I just got the foul, I’m chilling, and I see a man come at me, taking steps towards me and pointing at me, I don’t give a damn what you said, I don’t give a damn how you said it, the tone – that is unacceptable.
‘You should never step towards me and point at me. That there is unacceptable. And how he gets back in the game? Cause they said he didn’t do anything.
‘I apologize to my team because I got us a tech. But it’s just certain things that I’m not going to allow anymore because it’s just unacceptable. You don’t know me at all to come step towards me and point towards me and say anything.
‘You don’t have to love me. You can hate me with all your heart but you don’t know me. But I can guarantee that you will respect me.’
