Sophie Cunningham Turned a WNBA Shoving Match Into the Year’s Best Meme

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham did not throw a punch. She did not yell. She just pointed. And that one finger, aimed right at DeWanna Bonner during a heated fourth quarter, turned into the internet’s favorite WNBA moment of the week.

Cunningham then took it a step further. She posted a photo carousel on social media, and the second image was a face swap of her onto Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Rick Dalton from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In the movie, Dalton sees himself on TV and starts whistling and pointing at the screen. Cunningham saw herself pointing at Bonner and thought, yeah, that fits.

It’s not every day an athlete turns a near-scuffle into a pop culture reference that lands this clean. But the meme worked because it was true. Cunningham didn’t need to say anything. She just pointed, and the internet filled in the rest.

The Moment That Started It All

The whole thing went down during a Fever game against the Phoenix Mercury, Cunningham’s old team. Indiana was up 19 points late in the fourth quarter. Things got chippy. Bonner and Cunningham got tangled up. Instead of escalating, Cunningham just extended her arm and pointed at Bonner. No words. Just a finger.

The clip went viral fast. Underdog WNBA posted it, and the replies came flooding in. Some people called it cold-blooded. Others called it hilarious. Either way, it was the kind of moment that gets screenshotted and turned into memes within minutes.

The Fever won that game 86-77. Two nights later, the Mercury came back and won by two points. So Bonner got her revenge on the scoreboard. But Cunningham already had her meme.

Life After the Mercury

Cunningham is in her second season with the Fever after spending her first six WNBA years in Phoenix. She was traded to Indiana as part of a messy four-team deal that also brought in the Dallas Wings and Connecticut Sun. It was one of those trades that looked complicated on paper and felt even stranger in real time.

So far this season, Cunningham is averaging 9.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists across 18 games, with three starts. Those numbers are solid for a veteran guard who came off the bench most of her career. But it’s the pointing that has people talking right now.

There’s a real chance Cunningham’s meme outlasts the actual basketball moment. That’s just how it works now. The game ends, the score gets forgotten, but a good screenshot lives forever.