Fever Shuts Down Questions About Sophie Cunningham

An Indiana Fever representative stopped a reporter from OutKick when he tried to question players about Sophie Cunningham’s comments regarding trans athletes during a postgame press conference in Portland on Friday night. This occurred after the team’s victory over the Portland Fire, with a score of 112-98.

The press conference ended abruptly, and the interaction was left out of the Fever’s official YouTube upload. The situation unfolded after Aliyah Boston, alongside Makayla Timpson and head coach Stephanie White, answered a question on how the team handles the extra attention they’ve received over recent seasons without letting it disrupt the locker room.

“Yeah, I think first of all that’s what we build with who we have coming in. We know that there is always going to be attention with the Fever and for us it’s about coming in and winning games. It’s about showing up and doing what we can to continue to take steps forward in this league, and I think there is always going to be outside noise,” Boston said.

“But I think we’ve been professionals long enough to know that if you let that affect you then you’re not really here for the right things, so for us we just keep the main thing the main thing, and that’s hoop,” she added.

Immediately after Boston’s response, the OutKick reporter interrupted, attempting to question Boston and Timpson about Cunningham’s remarks on the women’s sports debate affecting the WNBA. A Fever representative intervened swiftly, stating, “We’re going to wrap up here.” Boston then thanked the reporters and exited the podium.

The video uploaded by the Fever concluded with Boston’s answer, eliminating the exchange between the reporter and the public relations staff. The Fever did not provide any comment on the incident. In addition, Caitlin Clark was not made available for comments post-game, despite securing a triple-double in the team’s fifth consecutive win. This marked the second consecutive game where Clark was unavailable to the media.

A rally occurred outside the arena to support Cunningham amid her recent comments on trans athletes participating in women’s sports. This was the second time such a rally took place.