“Sophie! Sophie! Sophie!” A sold-out Gainbridge Fieldhouse chanted Fever guard Sophie Cunningham’s name back in June. But it was not for a clutch game-winner. In the game against the Connecticut Sun back then, Caitlin Clark faced harsh physicality from the visitors. Jacy Sheldon revived their old rivalry from the get-go. By the third quarter, she poked Clark in the eye, and Sun’s Marina Mabrey had shoved the point guard to the floor. But while Sheldon got a flagrant-1 call, Mabrey only received a technical. Cunningham, not liking the officiating, took things into her own hands.

Late in the game, when Sheldon was driving downhill for a layup, Cunningham wrapped her arms around Sheldon’s neck and pushed her face-first into the hardwood. Both guards were ejected for the melee, with Cunningham receiving a flagrant-2. But all she had to say was, “It was a build up for a couple years now of them just not protecting the star player of the WNBA. So, at the end of the day, I’m going to protect my teammates, that’s what I do.” She saw overnight jersey sell-outs and social media growth with her TikTok reaching over 1.2 million followers for standing up. But the spotlight was nothing new to her, thanks to her time with the GOAT of the league.

Throughout her five-year career with the Phoenix Mercury, Cunningham protected her teammates. Consequently, she had known what being in the focus meant with the loyalty Diana Taurasi had from the Valley. Now, she has confirmed the similarities. While appearing on The Right “REED” Podcast, Cunningham was asked, “Can you kind of talk about the similarities between Taurasi and Caitlin? I know one’s just retired and one is just getting started. Do you see any similarities or differences between the two?” Cunnigham replied, “Oh, absolutely!

“First of all, I wanna say I‘m very blessed to have been in the position that I was in because everyone can argue she’s the greatest of all time. Dee…what she does and what she has done for this game is unbelievable, and she’s the reason why CC gets to be where she’s at. Not just Dee, other people have come along, but Dee has really done a phenomenal job. When I played with her, I was just a sponge.

“I tried to soak up her knowledge. A lot of people compare the way Dee thought about basketball and the way she approached life to Kobe (Bryant), and I actually got to meet him before he passed away. And their conversation, I’m not kidding, next level times a hundred. Like it was just the way they think about the game, they’re twenty steps ahead of everyone. It was awesome to just hear them talk.

“Dee and I have become really really good friends. Love her to death. Still talk to her all the time. She’s not in Australia hiding, check it. But she’s a great human. I think I got to learn a lot. And then the whole thing with BG (Brittney Griner), the past five years that she’s gone through, you kind of get to be a sponge too. So, now, I think that set me up for being a teammate of Caitlin Clark.”

Cunnigham was drafted 13th by Phoenix back in 2019. During her time there, she got the chance to experience how much the Valley loved and respected Taurasi. And why not? Taurasi was with them for the entirety of her 20-year career. She brought three WNBA championships to them, putting the team on the map. She became the league’s all-time scoring leader with the Mercury and an 11-time All-Star, all the while wanting to be a part of just one franchise. Although she has now retired, the Fever fans see the same loyalty from Clark. 

So, when Cunningham’s now in the Fever, she understands the love that Caitlin Clark gets from the Indy fans. Cunningham, too, has continued to be the same protective teammate to the Fever squad that she was once to the now-retired Taurasi. And the kind of growth, while watching the weight of the spotlight fall on Taurasi every single night, set her up perfectly for the role she’s playing now in Indiana. Because of Taurasi, Cunningham knows how to carry herself under the weight of expectations, learning how to thrive under a spotlight and the pressure of playing with a ‘superstar.’

Some of the rookies from the 2024 draft weren’t even born when Taurasi made her debut in Phoenix. Caitlin herself was just two. Dee’s game was already inspiring kids everywhere to pick up a basketball. Clark has said it herself, “(DT’s) somebody I grew up idolizing and looking up to and wanting to be like one day.” So for Sophie, being Taurasi’s teammate wasn’t just some cool side note in her career. It was everything. She did exactly what she calls a “supporting cast” should do, and quite efficiently.

Thanks to that, she now knows that beyond all the hype, what Caitlin really needs is love, support, and someone in her corner. Now, Sophie continues to defend her just as fiercely as she once did for DT. And while Sophie is now a Fever, even sharing a few Phoenix locker room secrets on how they once approached Clark, when it comes to her GOAT, she has her answer. 

Diana Taurasi will always be Sophie Cunningham’s GOAT

When Sophie Cunningham returned to Phoenix, the welcome was just as warm as her years in the Valley. Ahead of facing her former team, she sat down for a pregame chat with the media, and of course, the big question came up– What connects Diana Taurasi and Caitlin Clark?

Cunningham didn’t hesitate. “DT will always be my GOAT. I’ve never met someone who thinks the game how she thinks. The way that she was a pro in doing her weights, her rehab. The way she trained in the offseason when she was toward the end of her career, when she wasn’t going overseas. I’ve just never seen anything like that.”

That city will never forget the trio of Taurasi, Brittney Griner, and Cunningham. Taurasi was the scoring machine, Griner the dominant force inside the paint, and Sophie was the tough, gritty defender who always came through in clutch moments. Together, they didn’t just win games. They defined an entire era. No doubt, why she still carried that love for Phoenix & Dee.

However, while Taurasi will forever be her GOAT, Cunningham admits Caitlin Clark is the closest anyone’s come to that kind of basketball mind. “But the way that Caitlin thinks of the game, that’s a really close second,” she shared. “You know, she’s taking this game to new heights and it’s been amazing to watch.” 

And maybe that’s the beauty of it. When we talk about passing the torch, it feels like Sophie was standing right there, carrying a piece of Dee’s fire as it now lights up Clark’s journey.