The larger transaction is headlined by two-time All-Star Satou Sabally, who is heading to Phoenix from the Wings. Cunningham seemed to confirm the transaction on Friday by sharing multiple posts on both Instagram and X indicating that she was heading to Indiana.
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To pull off the deal, the Fever sent out forward NaLyssa Smith and the eighth overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft. Smith, the second overall selection in the 2022 draft, spent the first three seasons of her career with Indiana. She made an All-Rookie team during her first season, but her role appeared to be dwindling as the Fever added Natasha Howard in free agency — and that came after Smith’s minutes dropped throughout last season.
“I feel like I didn’t get to do as much as I wanted to do,” Smith said in her exit interview after the most recent season. “I didn’t get to contribute as much as I wanted to contribute.”
Smith averaged 10.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game last season. But the Baylor product lost minutes throughout the campaign in lieu of better-fitting players, and primarily strong 3-point shooters in Lexie Hull and Damiris Dantas. In the postseason, Smith played under 6.5 minutes per game as Temi Fagbenle grabbed playing time at the four spot.
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For an Indiana team that is clearly focused on playing a different style this season, moving Smith for a shooter makes sense. Insert Cunningham. The Missouri native is known for her ability to can jumpers from deep — she made 37.8% of her 3-point looks last season, which ranked in the top-30 in the league last year. Since 2021, Cunningham has buried 37.7% of her 4.7 3-point attempts per game.
She finished third in the WNBA’s Most Improved Player voting in 2022 and extended her contract with Phoenix for an additional year last fall. “Obviously, you need the top-end star talent, but you need the Sophie Cunninghams who grease the wheels. Her shooting ability makes things easier for everybody. She’s tough as nails. She plays night in and night out. Her shot profile is really, really clean. So I think she’s a perfect iteration of the type of player you need to get to the top and to win at a high level,” Mercury general manager Nick U’Ren said last season.
On a Fever roster focused on a new style — one that new head coach Stephanie White described as being more creative and maximizing versatility — adding spacing makes a ton of sense. Between Cunningham, Hull, Dantas, Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell, the Fever have more consistency as a jump-shooting team. A bounce-back season from Katie Lou Samuelson will only add to this reality.
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To add Cunningham’s skills (and other smaller pieces) — which also include a strong motor, decent defense across several positions and effective rebounding on the wing — Indiana had to send away a recent lottery pick and move back 11 spots in the upcoming draft. It’s a strong price to pay. It also suggests that the Indiana Fever have a strong belief in what Cunningham will bring to the team.
She can play the three or the four, and Indiana — short of a backup five — is now set in the frontcourt. Between Cunningham, Samuelson, Hull, the newly-added Natasha Howard, the reportedly-added DeWanna Bonner, Dantas and Aliyah Boston, the Fever have the necessary skill and size up and down the roster.
Brown shouldn’t be overlooked as an addition. Injuries derailed her rookie season with the Wings, but she showed promise during training camp and lit up the Fever with 21 points and five rebounds in a 2024 preseason game. After recovering, she played often down the stretch for Dallas and scored 15 points vs the Aces on the day of the season.
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Moving off of Smith made more sense with the additions of Bonner and Howard. Adding three-point shooting makes all the sense in the world for White’s new-look style. Brown is a calculated add. All in all, it’s easy to see the motivations for the Indiana Fever in this trade even if some may quibble with the price.
“Sophie is a player that we have targeted for a while, and one that we believe is a perfect fit for the style we want to play. She is a fierce competitor, works incredibly hard on both ends of the floor and is
one of the best shooters in our league. We are excited to add her to our squad,” Fever general manager and COO Amber Cox said in a statement.
After a strong close to 2024 and their first playoff berth in ages, the Fever keep adding to their team. This trade signals exactly what they want the 2025 season to look like on the court.
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