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Things have been rough for the Indiana Fever lately. After going above .500 following their win over the Connecticut Sun 10 days ago, they’ve now lost three of their last four.

For Fever newcomer and WNBA veteran Sophie Cunningham, the team’s shaky start and the controversies that seem to surround them every week have given her some perspective on her new team.

Speaking to the media after Thursday’s loss to the Los Angeles Sparks, Cunningham admitted that the team has dealt with a number of distractions and injuries. Through it all, she feels that the team is getting the adversity out of their way early.

Cunningham acknowledged that other WNBA teams see the Fever as the one to circle on their calendars. She feels that the team just needs to stay “focused” and “consistent” in order to get where they need to be.

“I think so far this season, we’ve had a lot of distractions, you can call it. Some injuries,” Cunningham said. “But I think that’s really good for us. Let’s go through the adversity early, let’s learn from it.

“The good news is we’re not gonna peak too early, so I mean that’s a positive. It’s not an excuse. Everyone’s playing a back-to-back, everyone has this kind of rough schedule. For us, it’s another opportunity tomorrow, and we’ve got to capitalize on it… We are circled on everybody’s schedule. No one likes us, right? So everyone in our locker room, that’s the only type of people that we have that we can lean on.

“We have got to stay disciplined, we have to stay focused, we need to get consistent, and we got to lean on each other. And I think we’ve kind of wavered on that.”

Caitlin Clark and her teammates.

IOWA CITY, IA – MAY 4: Caitlin Clark #22, DeWanna Bonner #25, Sophie Cunningham #8 and Lexie Hull #10 of the Indiana Fever smile during the game against the Brazil Women’s National Basketball Team during the WNBA preseason game on May 4, 2025 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images)

Jeff Haynes/Getty Images

Surprisingly, the Fever are in a pretty similar position to where they were this time last year. They had about the same number of wins this time last June, though more losses since the schedule was front-loaded with games.

But the absence of Caitlin Clark for about 40-percent of the season hasn’t helped either. The Fever are 5-4 in games she plays and 2-4 in games where she doesn’t.

The sooner that Clark is healthy again, the sooner the Fever can really start to make some noise in the WNBA standings.