Why the Indiana Fever Can’t Afford to Leave Sophie Cunningham Unprotected

The Indiana Fever will be faced with a tough decision when the WNBA finally ratifies a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Among the first orders of business after the CBA is ratified will be setting the date for the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire’s WNBA Expansion Draft. The sentiment is that because there are two teams involved in this year’s draft, the 13 current WNBA teams will only be able to protect five players on their current roster (as opposed to protecting six players when the Golden State Valkyries had their Expansion Draft in December of 2024).

The Fever will obviously be protecting Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell, and Lexie Hull. Natasha Howard is ineligible for the expansion draft because of core designations, which means that if five players are indeed protected, the Fever would likely need to choose between Sophie Cunningham or Makayla Timpson as their fifth and final protected player.

Multiple outlets have already predicted the Fever will choose Timpson. But that feels like an egregious error, given everything that Cunningham brings to Indiana, both on and off the court.

Fever would be foolish not to protect Sophie Cunningham

Cunningham provides timely three-point shooting and solid defense. However, her appeal on the court largely comes from her gritty play style, where she backs down to nobody and doesn’t take any disrespect for her or her Fever teammates.

This was made most apparent when Cunningham threw Jacy Sheldon to the ground one quarter after Sheldon incited a shoving match with Caitlin Clark when the Fever and the Connecticut Sun played back in June.

Not only did this prove that Cunningham would be willing to act as Clark’s protection, but it also heightened her own star power to impressive degrees. And that’s another reason why the Fever should keep Cunningham: She’s a huge star that brings money to the franchise.

But perhaps most important of all is the impact Cunningham has on the Fever’s culture. Even from the outside looking in, it was apparent that she brought an injection of energy and enthusiasm to the team every day, regardless of whether she was on the court or on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury.

Indiana has fantastic locker room chemistry in 2025, and the front office should do everything in its power to keep the main components of that on the team. As talented and promising as Timpson is, this is why it should be a no-brainer for Indiana to keep Cunningham protected.

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