‘Suck It’: Sophie Cunningham Responds to NY Times Writer Who Called for Her to Be Traded Over Trans Comments

Sophie Cunningham has two words for The Athletic columnist Candace Buckner : "s*ck it."

The WNBA star punched back at the writer on the Friday episode of her No Hesitation podcast, three days after Bucker wrote in The New York Times -owned sports outlet the Indiana Fever should trade Cunningham.

Why? Because Cunningham is way too controversial to have her on the same team as Caitlin Clark , Bucker argued.

"Cunningham is too combustible, her takes too turbulent to be paired with Caitlin Clark. On the same team, it's just too much," Buckner wrote .

"Clark, by her presence alone, already can't get through a season without being thrown into gutter debates that pit White against Black; hate that appears even in the DMs of her own teammates. Cunningham, with only a few words, introduced new divisions."

In particular, Buckner was upset with Cunningham's comments to ESPN over the summer, where she said she did not support men who have transitioned competing against women.

Here is Cunningham's exact quote, which sparked a whole saga and plopped her in the center of a months-long media firestorm:

"I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I'm like, 'I never once said that,'" [Cunningham] said. "I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn't have to go against biological men."

Cunningham's stance on trans athletes gave WNBA haters a golden opportunity to "disrupt" the league, Buckner said, which was made all the more sickening because the WNBA is "powered by the LGBTQIA community."

When her co-host Drew Hanlen brought up the article on their podcast, Cunningham said she wasn't losing sleep over critics like Buckner:

I literally don't even care what anybody says about me anymore, because I've said this so many times — if you're going to live by the praise, you're going to die by the hate. The majority of these have never picked up a ball in their entire lives and they're just like thirsty to like, have attention or be relevant in some type of way. No matter what anybody says to me, I'm going to continue to do me. I know what I bring to the table, it's not always in the stat sheet. And so, for you to like, not say I'm effective or any of that, whatever, s*ck it.

I literally don't even care what anybody says about me anymore, because I've said this so many times — if you're going to live by the praise, you're going to die by the hate.

The majority of these have never picked up a ball in their entire lives and they're just like thirsty to like, have attention or be relevant in some type of way.

No matter what anybody says to me, I'm going to continue to do me. I know what I bring to the table, it's not always in the stat sheet. And so, for you to like, not say I'm effective or any of that, whatever, s*ck it.

Her reaction comes as she has seemingly shrugged off most of the criticism aimed at her over the last few months, like when she jumped on a bar top and started belting a country tune.

Her podcast, meanwhile, has been generating some headlines, after she told WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson to "grow up" last week, following a bizarre confrontation with a fan.