The Fever made several moves to get veteran two-way contributors over the offseason. One of those moves was trading NaLyssa Smith to the Dallas Wings and the eighth overall pick in the 2025 draft to the Connecticut Sun for Sophie Cunningham. With that trade, the Fever effectively replaced NaLyssa Smith, who struggled to defend and space the floor the way the Fever needed her to next to Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston, with a veteran who could do both of those things at a high level.
Cunningham has delivered what the Fever wanted her to bring to the court: she is shooting 44.3 percent from three for the season and added toughness that the team had missed last year. Recently, she has done much more than that and her real value has become increasingly obvious.
Cunningham is one of the more versatile players in the league. She can comfortably play either forward spot or slide to the shooting guard position. With Caitlin Clark, Aari McDonald, and Sydney Colson all out, Cunningham has even taken on some point guard duties.
Sophie Cunningham has to fill a new role for the Fever
A string of injuries left the Fever without a true point guard. They signed Odyssey Sims and Kyra Lambert, but neither has had much time to practice with the team yet, and Lambert never even played in the WNBA before. So, Kelsey Mitchell and Sophie Cunningham are now sharing point guard responsibilities in a new starting lineup that features them at the guard spots, Lexie Hull, Natasha Howard, and Aliyah Boston.
This is a bigger change for Cunningham than for Mitchell. The latter is used to having the ball in her hands a lot and driving the Fever’s offense. She has been doing that pretty much all season long.
Cunningham, on the other hand, spent most of the season as a 3-and-D reserve on the wing for the Fever. Now, she is starting and running the offense at times as well as taking on some of the tougher defensive assignments.
Trading for Cunningham looks like a genius decision
Replacing NaLyssa Smith with Sophie Cunningham was always a good trade—Cunningham simply fit what the Fever needed better—but it looks even better now. Few players can go from playing a backup role on the wing or at the power forward spot to taking over point guard duties in the starting lineup. Smith wouldn’t have been able to provide the versatility, and the Fever also wouldn’t have been able to find that kind of production in the draft.
The Fever traded the eighth overall pick to get Cunningham. Connecticut used that pick to select Saniya Rivers. While Rivers is an exciting prospect, especially defensively, she would not be able to help the Fever make a push for the playoffs with several players out the same way Cunningham can.
The Fever have only won one game since losing McDonald and Colson. They beat Chicago and lost two close games against Dallas and Washington. Nevertheless, they are still in the playoff picture and would be in a much worse position if Mitchell were the only available ball handler who didn’t just join the team a few days ago.