WNBA Fans Can’t Stop Talking After Sophie Cunningham Leaves Paige Bueckers Behind in an Achievement Outside Basketball
· Yahoo Sports
Paige Bueckers entered the WNBA as one of the most exciting young prospects out of UConn. From winning Rookie of the Year in 2025 to helping Dallas turn things around this season, she lived up to the hype. So few would have expected Sophie Cunningham, a seven-year WNBA veteran, to overtake the 2026 All-Star starter in terms of fan following.
The Indiana Fever guard just left Bueckers behind on Instagram, reaching a new follower-count milestone. Cunnighham now has 3.2 million followers, over Bueckers’ 3.1 million. With Brick Center highlighting the achievement, fans pitched in with their own views.
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“Sophie just casually hopped over Paige on IG like it was nothing,” one fan wrote. “Who is Paige Bueckers?” another joked.
Sophie Cunningham maintained a relatively modest profile during her six seasons with the Phoenix Mercury. But that quickly changed when she joined the Fever in 2025 and earned a reputation as Caitlin Clark’s “enforcer” after she defended her during a heated altercation. That moment introduced her to a much wider audience.
Building on that attention, Cunningham ended up launching her Show Me Something podcast and gradually expanded her media presence. But let’s be honest, even then, she was still nowhere near the Bueckers’ fandom. This latest kind of popularity is the product of a whirlwind month in which Cunningham kept finding herself at the center of the conversation.
“Companies need to take note and give Sophie Cunningham endorsements,” one fan wrote after the recent jump in her following. “As she should,” another added.
According to Social Blade, the Fever guard has gained more than 1.22 million Instagram followers over the last 30 days alone. 443,000+ of those arrived during the early days of July, followed by another surge of over 230,000 later in the month. And there is a reason behind both of these jumps.
The first spike came shortly after Indiana’s late-June meeting with the Mercury, where her finger-pointing exchange with DeWanna Bonner became one of the WNBA’s biggest viral moments of the season. Then let’s not forget about her side-quests.
Sophie Cunningham unexpectedly worked as a ring girl during UFC 329 in Las Vegas on July 11 and also joined USA Network this season as a WNBA contributor and part-time studio analyst. So her visibility has undoubtedly expanded outside the league. But the reason behind the second surge was her views on trans athletes competing in women’s sports in an interview with Hallie Grossman.
While the attention it brought wasn’t all positive, Cunningham still made headlines.
“Do we have a new face of the league?” one fan asked.
Now, love her or disagree with her, Sophie Cunningham has an unapologetic attitude, and her fans are all for it. So with her Instagram following now surpassing Paige Bueckers’ and Google Trends showing searches for “Sophie Cunningham” up 150% year over year, her profile has grown well beyond the basketball court.
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