Trump: WNBA teams should want Sophie Cunningham for her looks, drawing power

At a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday night, President Donald Trump advocated for Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham and indicated that any WNBA team should want her due to her looks.“Sophie is a beautiful young woman,” he said. “You probably wouldn’t mind her on the team, not to help you with points, but to help you with attendance. The attendance would be great.”The crowd laughed in response at the rally intended to inspire Republican voter turnout at the upcoming midterm elections.Cunningham, who averaged 7.9 points this season — her lowest output in the last five seasons — is an unrestricted free agent. She became a focal point of conversations around the WNBA this season, tussling with opponents to produce meme-worthy moments and also sparking demonstrations outside Fever games after making comments in an ESPN article in July about her opposition to transgender athletes in women’s sports.Trump’s comments mostly focused on Cunningham’s appearance.“You have a lot of men wanting to go and watch her. She’s beautiful,” Trump said. “You’re not allowed to say that anymore, however, as a politician. Please, please, let me take it back. Anytime a politician says a woman is beautiful, that’s generally the end of his political career in the modern-day politic world.”"We like Sophie Cunningham."President Trump compliments the popular Indiana Fever player, calling her a "beautiful young woman" before joking that "any time a politician says a woman is beautiful, that's generally the end of his political career."Trump suggests Cunningham… pic.twitter.com/sOLioHJsPM— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 13, 2026The White House took note of Cunningham earlier this season.In July, then-press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that though Trump hadn’t reached out to Cunningham, he was following “the story” in the wake of controversy around her comments on transgender athletes. “As you know, this is something the president feels strongly about as well, and the American people do, too; that men should not be playing in women’s sports.”Trump signed an executive order in 2025 that bans transgender athletes from participating in female sports in schools. No transgender athletes have competed in the WNBA.In June, the White House posted a video to its official X account that showed a viral moment from the season in which Cunningham pointed at then-Mercury forward DeWanna Bonner during a game before cutting to Trump pointing at an event.Cunningham has previously described her politics as “very much in the middle.”The Fever were eliminated from the playoffs after being swept by the Las Vegas Aces in the first round. In the days following their season’s end, star guard Caitlin Clark spoke about wanting to contend for a championship and was particularly vocal about the Fever retaining unrestricted free agent guard Kelsey Mitchell, who was an MVP candidate this season.Cunningham, who is coming off a one-year contract with the Fever and her second season in Indiana, addressed her free agency on her podcast “No Hesitation.”“I don’t know what the offseason holds,” she said. “A lot of us are under free agency now, so who knows?”This article originally appeared in The Athletic.Indiana Fever, WNBA2026 The Athletic Media Company