Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham said she feels the WNBA applied a “double standard” by not disciplining Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson for an incident involving a fan during a first-round matchup between the Aces and Fever. Cunningham was called for a foul on Wilson in the fourth quarter of the Fever’s Game 2 victory on Tuesday, after which a fan stood up and pointed at Wilson. Wilson, who stepped forward to confront the fan as several Aces players ran to push her away, did not face any additional discipline beyond the technical foul he received on the play. “She’s like the LeBron James of our league, and that’s why, of course, they’re not going to suspend her… Something should have happened,” Cunningham said on Saturday’s episode of his podcast, No Hesitation Show with Drew Hanlen. “The two people that came off the bench and came on the court, that should have happened. I think there’s definitely a double standard.” Cunningham added that he didn’t want Wilson to have been ejected from the game partly because he feels the Fever “would have gotten a lot of backlash for that.” “We shout from the rooftops that we want equality, that we want to be treated like men, that we want all this and we deserve all these things, and we deserve it, we deserve it,” Cunningham said. “But if you’re asking all these fans to come, and you have new fans, who are real sports fans, and they come and do something that a sports fan would probably do if you’re on the opposing team, and then you’re going to go after him just for pointing out, saying you fouled out. Grow up.” first-round series by previously reacting to a disparity in fouls called. Wilson said after Game 2 that he viewed the fans’ actions as “unacceptable” and had apologized to his teammates for accepting the technique. He bounced back in Game 3 by scoring 36 points and 10 rebounds as the Aces eliminated the Fever. She and the Aces have since advanced to the semifinals, where their series against the Golden State Valkyries begins Sunday at 4 p.m. ET.
