The injury, a league source confirmed to The IX, is a torn MCL. Cunningham rotated under the basket on defense and took a hit from Connecticut guard Bria Hartley, and Cunningham was immediately in pain. She hopped along the baseline while holding her knee before toppling over, and she was surrounded by her teammates a few moments later before exiting the court.
At that moment, her season ended. “I’m like, holy shit,” Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White recalled of her reaction when the injury happened. Her team has had so many players in and out and keeps seeing injury after injury.
Cunningham, Colson and McDonald now make it three players out for the season for Indiana. That’s on top of the current month-plus absence of Caitlin Clark, who is dealing with a groin injury and also suffered a bone bruise in her left ankle while the Fever were in Phoenix earlier this month, a league source confirmed to The IX. Clark has been rehabbing both injuries — her recovery when it comes to her groin issue is unimpacted. The same source stressed that Clark is working very hard to return.
“There was no timeline or projected return to play so it’s impossible to say if it was impacted. So it remains the same: to give Caitlin as much time needed to ensure she comes back fully healthy, which everyday she is working hard to do,” a Fever spokesperson said to The IX on Wednesday regarding Clark.
Throughout the season, the Fever have dealt with other players coming and going, which has made consistency and chemistry difficult to build. “You have to stay resilient is one thing,” Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell said of her team fighting through ailments. She has been a bright spot for the Fever as of late, and for much of the season. “You have to have good culture. You have to have good people in your locker room, you have to have decent humans.”
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Cunningham averaged 8.6 points and 3.2 rebounds per game this season while shooting a career-best 43.2% from long range. She fit in well to the Fever’s play style and will be a free agent to monitor in the offseason. She has been in good spirits both on social media and on her podcast since the injury.
“I’m really in good spirits,” she said. “I’m thankful to be where I’m at and thankful for the year that I got.”
The Fever will now have to adjust again. They’ve been struggling without many of their best table settlers and ball handlers — losing Cunningham won’t help in that way. As the playoff race heats up, Indiana will have to win with their defense and togetherness.
To increase their chances of doing exactly that, the team signed Shey Peddy to a seven-day hardship contract on Tuesday. The veteran guard played for the Los Angeles Sparks earlier this season.
To clear room for Peddy on the roster, Kyra Lambert was released Monday from her hardship deal with the Fever. When Cunningham was healthy, the team could afford to go with a young, less experienced guard on a hardship deal and build up her skillset. Now, though, the team has more immediate needs and must add someone who can contribute right away.
“When you have Sophie on the floor, you have experience, and Kyra can start to learn this league. She can really develop and you can use her in spot minutes,” White explained. “Now, not having Sophie who had been our backup point guard… we needed somebody with experience. Shey has experience in this league.”
Insert Peddy, who is in her sixth season and believes she has the necessary skills for the Fever given their current situation. Her ability to keep a team organized while not monopolizing possessions is exactly what a roster with banged-up point guards should want.
In six games with Los Angeles earlier this season, Peddy averaged 5.0 points and 2.7 assists per game. She had five points and four dimes against the Fever — her new team — during her only win while playing for the Sparks this season.
She was teammates with Mitchell before while the two played in Turkey, and they were joking together after practice while Mitchell worked on her free throws. Being a cultural fit right away will help Peddy, as Indiana needs her to make an impact on day one.
“I’m excited to be here,” Peddy said. She’s still appreciative of every opportunity she gets in the WNBA to this day. “It felt good. It felt easy to come in… everybody was nice and welcoming.”
Peddy found out about the contract offer on Monday. The Fever have four days between games this week, so Peddy can practice and get confidence in the playbook before hitting the court. She didn’t have that luxury with the Sparks earlier this season.
“Leadership. Some stability, steadiness on defense,” Peddy said of what she can bring to the Fever. “Obviously, I want to come down, be aggressive, hit my threes when I can.”
Peddy joins Odyssey Sims as the current Fever players on hardship contracts, and the team will have another one at their disposal after Cunningham misses game action. That happens on Friday as Indiana begins a home-and-home set with the Minnesota Lynx. It’s the start of a challenging final nine games for the team — Tankathon says they have the hardest remaining strength of schedule in the league. That makes it an inopportune time to lose Cunningham. Peddy will need to produce right away as the Fever, once again, try to adjust to their new reality.
“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is out now!
Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.
