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Indiana Fever Guard Sophie Cunningham Throws Shade at WNBA Expansion Cities originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
Yesterday, it was confirmed that the WNBA will be expanding, with three new cities joining the league beginning in 2028.
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WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert held a press conference Monday morning, revealing that Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia will register teams in the league.
“This historic expansion is a powerful reflection of our league’s extraordinary momentum, the depth of talent across the game, and the surging demand for investment in women’s professional basketball,” Engelbert said.
Sophie Cunningham, who was traded to the Indiana Fever from the Phoenix Mercury during last offseason, doesn’t seem to be the biggest fan of the decisions made by the WNBA, noting that other destinations might have been better for the league.
“I also think that you want to listen to your players. Like, where do they want to play? Where are they going to get excited to play and draw fans? And I do think that Miami would’ve been a great one, like everyone loves Florida. Nashville is an amazing city, Kansas City, amazing opportunity, there’s a huge arena downtown that no one’s using,” Cunningham said.
“I’m not so sure what the thought process is there, but at the end of the day, you want to make sure that you’re not expanding our league too fast. You don’t want to have teams that totally dominate and have teams that aren’t.”
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The WNBA currently holds 13 franchises, with Toronto and Portland joining the mix next year. By 2030, there will be 18 teams, proving the exponential growth that the league is seeing.
Although Cunningham is all for growing the game, she’s hesitant about the excitement towards the new cities.
It’s kind of a hard situation, but man, I don’t know how excited people are to be going to Detroit or Cincinnati (Cleveland).”
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 1, 2025, where it first appeared.
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