Phoenix Mercury's Sophie Cunningham Has Caused a Stir With Her Pregame Outfit

In a playful video shared to X (formerly Twitter) on Aug. 26, WNBA team Phoenix Mercury showed off guard Sophie Cunningham's pregame outfit with a caption ripped straight from Love Island: "This week, a hot new bombshell enters the villa." And while Sophie looked stylish and confident, it seems that many basketball fans were less than impressed.

The post — and her outfit — have drawn ire from netizens across social media, with some accusing the team of sexualizing their players for views and others calling out the supposed "irony and hypocrisy" of the post.

What's got people so up in arms? Let's take a look.

Sophie's controversial pregame outfit was a short, off-the-shoulder dress with wide cutouts on the sides showing off her hips, complete with a pair of heels and sunglasses. And while it certainly showed a different side to Sophie than what fans typically see on the court, we're not sure it should have been quite as polarizing as it apparently is.

In the comments of the Mercury's post, angry folks were quick to slam the player and her team for the "inappropriate" video.

"But it's about basketball, right? More attention to the drama of the WNBA and what the women are wearing [than] actually hooping," one flustered fan wrote.

However, some were quick to point out that sharing a video of her walking in wearing a fashionable look wasn't exactly new: "The NBA made walk-ins and outfits so famous, players get paid to wear clothes — even Stephen A Smith has walk-in videos."

In a post on her Instagram page, the basketball star showed off another snap of her fit with the caption, "No lies told," — and of course, on her own personal profile, fans were a much more supportive.

"Can we all agree that Sophie Cunningham is fine as hell?" one commenter said.