Sophie Cunningham breaks silence on Enes Kanters WNBA-Trans stunt

Sophie Cunningham has spent the summer showing she is willing to speak on one of the WNBA’s most divisive subjects.She is not, however, volunteering to become a supporting character in someone else’s spectacle.Cunningham addressed Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White declaring themselves eligible for the WNBA draft in an ESPN interview published Friday, offering a response that created noticeable distance between her beliefs and their campaign.“I’m gonna let them do them,” Cunningham said.

“I’m just focused on the Fever and on our sport.I think we have four more games left.

I’m trying to just really dial in and keep the main thing the main thing.”That distinction matters because Kanter Freedom has repeatedly invoked Cunningham while escalating his protest of the league’s transgender eligibility language.He attended Indiana’s Aug.

23 game in Chicago wearing a shirt defining a woman as an “adult human female” before being ejected following an exchange with Sky guard Natasha Cloud.Kanter Freedom, who has publicly called Cunningham “my friend,” later said she texted him, “What happened?” Cunningham has not confirmed his account or publicly joined his broader campaign.Her refusal to engage is not a reversal of her position.Cunningham previously said she supports restricting transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s sports, while rejecting accusations that she hates transgender people.“I think that I am here to extend love,” Cunningham told ESPN in July.

“But I also think with that love is truth.”What changed Friday was the subject Cunningham wanted to discuss.The Fever are 26-14, fifth in the standings and fighting for home-court advantage with four regular-season games remaining.Cunningham, averaging 8.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists, said feeding off-court controversies with her “brain and energy” would take something away from a team she believes can make a deep playoff run.For once, one of the WNB...