The Fever won 90-86, but much of the attention afterward centered on an incident late in the first quarter involving Indiana’s Sophie Cunningham and Chicago’s DiJonai Carrington. With about two minutes remaining in the quarter, Carrington struck Cunningham across the face during the play, leaving Cunningham with a bloody mouth.
Officials initially called a foul before upgrading it to a Flagrant 2, resulting in Carrington’s ejection.
The play itself was already enough to generate debate, but Sports Illustrated added another layer of controversy with its original headline: “Sophie Cunningham Got a Bitter Taste of Karma After Drawing Flagrant Foul in Fever-Sky.”
OutKick founder Clay Travis shared a screenshot of the headline on X, where it quickly drew criticism.
The obvious question was what Sports Illustrated meant by “karma.”
The outlet said the headline referred to a June 2025 game between the Fever and Connecticut Sun. During that matchup, Cunningham received a Flagrant 2 foul for grabbing Jacy Sheldon, who now plays for Chicago.
That explanation, however, did little to quiet the criticism.
After the backlash, Sports Illustrated changed the headline to: “Sophie Cunningham’s Enforcer Role Gets Reversed Onto Her With Hard Foul in Fever-Sky.”
There is some history behind the comparison. Cunningham has embraced a physical role with Indiana and has been willing to defend her teammates, particularly Caitlin Clark. In the 2025 game against Connecticut, Cunningham’s foul on Sheldon came after Sheldon had poked Clark in the eye earlier in the contest.
Cunningham has never pretended that her retaliation was clean basketball. Discussing the incident later, she acknowledged that officials were right to remove her from that game.
Sports Illustrated’s headline is “Sophie Cunningham got a bitter taste of karma” by getting clotheslined. Sports media is broken. It’s way more left wing than political media. pic.twitter.com/svrY06F0JP
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) August 8, 2026
“Last year, I did the same thing, and I got kicked out,” Cunningham said. “And I deserved to be kicked out.”
That context matters because it makes the two situations less straightforward than Sports Illustrated’s original headline suggested. Cunningham’s foul in 2025 was an intentional retaliation during an already physical sequence. Carrington’s foul Saturday involved a direct blow to Cunningham’s face and resulted in an immediate ejection.
Critics also questioned whether the “karma” language carried a broader implication.
Cunningham has become an outspoken figure away from the court as well. In a July interview with ESPN, she addressed the debate over transgender athletes in women’s sports and said she believes female athletes should not be required to compete against biological males.
“I think that I am here to extend love,” Cunningham said. “But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
Because of those comments, some critics interpreted Sports Illustrated’s headline as more than a reference to an old basketball foul. They questioned whether the publication was suggesting that Cunningham somehow deserved the hit because of her public views.
Sports Illustrated did not say that in the article, and the publication’s stated explanation pointed instead to Cunningham’s previous on-court conduct. Still, the wording left enough room for people to draw their own conclusions, which is one reason the headline became such a distraction from the game itself.
The controversy also comes at a time when Sports Illustrated has undergone significant changes. The publication, once best known as a dominant weekly sports magazine, reduced its print schedule over the years, moving to biweekly publication in 2018 and then monthly publication in 2020. It has also faced criticism over questions involving editorial standards and the use of AI-generated content.
