WNBA - Fever's Marketing Shift From One to "Tres" After Recent Fracas

The most marketable franchise in the WNBA has a marketing problem. Having the most dynamic player in the league being thrown all over the court on national television, the narrative should change to how the league can protect their stars, instead of the Wild West approach in recent years.

The Indiana Fever are 7-7 after Tuesday’s win against the Seattle Storm, in a game in which Caitlin Clark was held to six points on 3-13 shooting, including 0-6 from three point range. Clark’s last three games have seen her go a combined 1-for-23 from deep, but is a perfect 9-9 from the foul line.

When upright, Clark is the most lethal shooter in women’s basketball. When she is knocked to the floor, one teammate has taken it upon herself to be an enforcer you would rather find in hockey.

Over the past two weeks, Sophie Cunningham has seen her jersey sales skyrocket, and gained hundreds of thousands of new social media followers. This was brought on by her actions in the waning minute of the Fever’s victory over the Connecticut Sun on June 17.

Clark was poked in the eye by Sun guard Jacy Shelton in the third quarter. Clark covered her eye, shoving Shelton with the other. Then Connecticut’s Tina Charles and Marina Mabry rushed in to defend Shelton. Mabry ended up running into Clark with a hard shoulder, knocking Clark to the floor. Clark, Charles and Mabry earned technical fouls, while Shelton was assessed a flagrant 1 foul.

The league would later upgrade Mabry’s technical to a flagrant 2, which would have resulted in an automatic ejection had that been the call at the time of the skirmish.

With under 50 seconds remaining, Shelton was alone on a breakaway, but the game was well in hand for the Fever. Cunningham chased down Shelton, and wrapped her up with both arms on a hard foul. Shelton threw Cunningham to the floor, which was the wrong person to want to start something with.

Sophie Cunningham was a replacement kicker on her high school football team in Columbia, Missouri, after their primary kicker was injured late in the season. Cunningham was famously photographed as being named Homecoming Queen, whilst standing in her football uniform alongside the Homecoming King at halftime of a game. Cunningham has also been a black belt in taekwondo since the age of six. Shelton should have done her homework before suiting up, so she would not have to draw the ire of the most protected player in the WNBA, and her confrontation-loving teammate.

Cunningham got to her feet, immediately shoving Shelton, and then it was on. Multiple players, coaches, and security had to be brought in to make sure the action did not spill further into the stands, as the scrum was directly underneath the basket. Cunningham was assessed a flagrant 2 foul, and ejected.

No suspensions were handed out, despite six technicals called during the game, five against Connecticut, two skirmishes, a pair of flagrants, and an ejection. The initial tussle involving Shelton and Clark was going to happen, whether incidental or intentional. What the officials did by not stepping in sooner allowed Charles and Mabry to set the stage for Shelton and Cunningham in garbage time.

Indiana traded for Cunningham on January 31, as part of a four-team trade also involving the Dallas Wings, the Sun, and Phoenix Mercury. For all the physical attention she has received as of late, Cunningham only averages 2.5 fouls per game this season.

Cunningham and Clark were also seen sitting courtside with teammate Lexie Hull for many of the Indiana Pacers’ playoff games, with the Pacers' run to Game Seven of the NBA Finals. Cunningham wore a “Tres Leches” t-shirt entering the T-Mobile Arena for the Fever’s matchup against the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday night. The shirt bore caricatures of all three ladies, much like shirts you would remember from the NBA during the 1990s. Hull and Cunningham have been fashion plates the past few seasons for their outfit choices when entering arenas on game day, including a few red carpet appearances for the team.

Clark will certainly draw the majority of the headlines for what she can do on the court. Cunningham and Hull are more role players, as Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston have carried the majority of the offensive output with Clark this season for the Fever. Every major statistical category for Indiana is right now led by either Boston or Clark, the first overall picks in the WNBA Draft in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

The Fever, despite their 7-7 record, have something brewing with how their roster is currently constructed. The talent may not be on par with defending-champion New York, Minnesota, or Las Vegas, but people have to remember that Clark and Boston are 23, Hull is 25, and Cunningham as the guard dog is still just 28. There is a lot of basketball left this summer, and a lot of growth for this roster.

The WNBA is going to bear the fruits of their hype machine if the Fever can start to make deeper playoff runs over the next few seasons. To do so, the league needs to get some of the attitudes on the floor in check, which is not a direct shot at Angel Reese in Chicago, Clark’s nemesis going back to their college days at Indiana and LSU. There have been far too many scuffles over the past few seasons, which does well for views on YouTube and TikTok, but lead to too many in the media taking sides the following morning during the highlight packages.

Clark is going to be the face that brings more eyes to the WNBA every single season. With the league expanding to as many as 17 teams by 2028, fans will want to see these players score, not get tossed out because the league and in-game officials cannot police the action.

-JC24