{"id":1769,"date":"2026-06-30T15:19:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T12:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T15:19:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T12:19:33","slug":"sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/","title":{"rendered":"Sophie Cunningham: WNBA Players ‘Definitely Targeting’ Caitlin Clark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are WNBA players deliberately targeting Caitlin Clark on the court? Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham thinks so. On her podcast, she was blunt: “They are definitely targeting (Clark), and the league and the refs do nothing to protect her.”<\/p>\n

Her comments arrive on the heels of a telling incident. Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas drew a Flagrant Foul 2 penalty and a one-game suspension for contact involving Clark. The suspension sent a message\u2014though perhaps not the one the league intended\u2014about just how physical things have gotten.<\/p>\n

Clark’s back injury sidelined her for the Fever’s Saturday win over the Los Angeles Sparks. This marks her second injury absence this season. The pattern is hard to ignore: the rookie keeps getting hurt, and the suspicion lingers that aggressive play is part of the problem.<\/p>\n

Cunningham, who played college ball at Missouri, has made herself Clark’s champion on this issue. She’s paid a price for speaking up\u2014fined before for comments on her “Show Me Something” podcast and for a TikTok from last season. Yet she keeps pushing back, suggesting the problem hasn’t gone away.<\/p>\n

The Fever take on the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday, July 5, with Clark’s status still in doubt. How the league responds\u2014if it does\u2014remains an open question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sophie Cunningham accuses WNBA players of deliberately targeting Caitlin Clark, claiming the league and referees fail to protect the rookie. The comments follow Alyssa Thomas’s suspension for a flagrant foul involving Clark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wnba"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSophie Cunningham: WNBA Players 'Definitely Targeting' Caitlin Clark<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sophie Cunningham accuses WNBA players of deliberately targeting Caitlin Clark, claiming the league and referees fail to protect the rookie. The comments f\u2026\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sophie Cunningham: WNBA Players 'Definitely Targeting' Caitlin Clark\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sophie Cunningham accuses WNBA players of deliberately targeting Caitlin Clark, claiming the league and referees fail to protect the rookie. The comments f\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sport 365 News EN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-30T12:19:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-30T12:19:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/90654838007-usatsi-29249678.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f42c3a65489b11da7be94bd4ff886218\"},\"headline\":\"Sophie Cunningham: WNBA Players ‘Definitely Targeting’ Caitlin Clark\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-30T12:19:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-30T12:19:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":225,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/90654838007-usatsi-29249678.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"WNBA\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sophie Cunningham: WNBA Players 'Definitely Targeting' Caitlin Clark\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/90654838007-usatsi-29249678.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-30T12:19:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-30T12:19:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f42c3a65489b11da7be94bd4ff886218\"},\"description\":\"Sophie Cunningham accuses WNBA players of deliberately targeting Caitlin Clark, claiming the league and referees fail to protect the rookie. The comments f\u2026\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/90654838007-usatsi-29249678.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/90654838007-usatsi-29249678.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sophie Cunningham: WNBA Players ‘Definitely Targeting’ Caitlin Clark\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sport 365 News EN\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f42c3a65489b11da7be94bd4ff886218\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/33e54dec0cd79fc4b5e911c15f836c46ec8d0e452ecd3ca5f707bce0a3540a3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/33e54dec0cd79fc4b5e911c15f836c46ec8d0e452ecd3ca5f707bce0a3540a3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/33e54dec0cd79fc4b5e911c15f836c46ec8d0e452ecd3ca5f707bce0a3540a3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/sportnews.local\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sport365.news\\\/en\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sophie Cunningham: WNBA Players 'Definitely Targeting' Caitlin Clark","description":"Sophie Cunningham accuses WNBA players of deliberately targeting Caitlin Clark, claiming the league and referees fail to protect the rookie. The comments f\u2026","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sophie Cunningham: WNBA Players 'Definitely Targeting' Caitlin Clark","og_description":"Sophie Cunningham accuses WNBA players of deliberately targeting Caitlin Clark, claiming the league and referees fail to protect the rookie. The comments f\u2026","og_url":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/","og_site_name":"Sport 365 News EN","article_published_time":"2026-06-30T12:19:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-30T12:19:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/90654838007-usatsi-29249678.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f42c3a65489b11da7be94bd4ff886218"},"headline":"Sophie Cunningham: WNBA Players ‘Definitely Targeting’ Caitlin Clark","datePublished":"2026-06-30T12:19:31+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-30T12:19:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/"},"wordCount":225,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/90654838007-usatsi-29249678.webp","articleSection":["WNBA"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/","url":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/","name":"Sophie Cunningham: WNBA Players 'Definitely Targeting' Caitlin Clark","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/90654838007-usatsi-29249678.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-30T12:19:31+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-30T12:19:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f42c3a65489b11da7be94bd4ff886218"},"description":"Sophie Cunningham accuses WNBA players of deliberately targeting Caitlin Clark, claiming the league and referees fail to protect the rookie. The comments f\u2026","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/90654838007-usatsi-29249678.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/90654838007-usatsi-29249678.webp","width":1200,"height":675},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/sophie-cunningham-wnba-players-definitely-targeting-caitlin-clark\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430","item":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sophie Cunningham: WNBA Players ‘Definitely Targeting’ Caitlin Clark"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/","name":"Sport 365 News EN","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f42c3a65489b11da7be94bd4ff886218","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33e54dec0cd79fc4b5e911c15f836c46ec8d0e452ecd3ca5f707bce0a3540a3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33e54dec0cd79fc4b5e911c15f836c46ec8d0e452ecd3ca5f707bce0a3540a3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33e54dec0cd79fc4b5e911c15f836c46ec8d0e452ecd3ca5f707bce0a3540a3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/sportnews.local"],"url":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1769"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1770,"href":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1769\/revisions\/1770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sport365.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}