The women's basketball world is still buzzing about what Chicago Sky star Angel Reese said about her franchise in a September 3 article from Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune.
Among the many things that Reese said was that the front office needed to do a better job of signing top-tier free agents this upcoming offseason because they failed to do so last offseason, and that if they didn't and the Sky kept losing, then she would have no problem looking for another franchise to continue her career with.
What's more, Reese said that her head coach, Tyler Marsh, needed to be harder when coaching players. But the comments that seemed to have irked the most people (including her own teammates) were Reese's comments on veteran point guard Courtney Vandersloot, as she said, "We can't rely on Courtney to come back at the age that she's at. I know she'll be a great asset for us, but we can't rely on that.
"We need someone probably a little younger with some experience, somebody who's been playing the game and is willing to compete for a championship and has done it before," Reese added, which Vandersloot clearly didn't appreciate.
Despite Reese having apologized for her comments, she has still received a lot of backlash. One of Reese's peers who is used to receiving backlash from time to time is Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham.
However, Cunningham didn't take Reese's side with this one, which was shown through her comments on a September 9 episode of the Show Me Something podcast.
"No. That's not great," Cunningham said of Reese's comments. "And like, I get it. When you're losing, and it has been a frustrating season, everyone is feeling those emotions. And when I say everyone, it's not just her... literally everyone feels that. There's just some things that you can't say.
"And I think one of my biggest things is, I'm a very team-first person. I always put the team before my feelings, and I feel like that should be a standard. And so, you've got to protect your locker room," Cunningham added. "You can't just be saying everything you're feeling, because that is just not a good look. And then your teammates feel a certain way, and that causes division in the locker room."
Cunningham continued, "So it's protect your locker room at all costs. And I'm sure [Reese] regrets saying that, don't get me wrong. There's just some things that everyone probably knows, that you can't just say... You can have those conversations behind closed doors. But to say it in media, that's kind of brutal.
"I mean, if anyone does that, you should get fined," Cunningham concluded.
While the Fever star seems to understand where Reese is coming from, she also clearly doesn't agree with her airing out the Sky's dirty laundry for the whole women's basketball community to see.