Sophie Cunningham injury: Sports medicine doctor reveals potential extent of Fever star’s setback

The footage was striking — and left everyone in attendance stunned. Sophie Cunningham’s collapse to the floor after contact from her opponent hinted at the worst-case scenario. While there is still no official confirmation on the exact nature of the injury suffered by one of the Indiana Fever’s key players, speculation is already swirling about what she might be dealing with.

Undoubtedly, the worst-case outcome would involve a torn ACL — something that, judging by the video and the way she went down, remains a possibility.

Brian Sutterer, a sports doctor, addressed Cunningham’s situation on his YouTube channel, offering insight into the potential possibilities the player could be facing moving forward.

“Now, the primary things that are going to be on my differential here: of course, this can cause something like an ACL tear,” he said. “We can see a forced valgus load, where a player falls into the outside of their knee, pushes it inward, and that can cause enough stress to tear the ACL.

“I’ll admit, just the impact and the positioning of her leg, to me, did not look quite as significant for something like this.”

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A more encouraging outlook

There’s no doubt the Fever are hoping and praying that Sophie Cunningham’s injury is as minor as possible, with the possibility of her returning in time for the playoffs. Continuing his analysis, Dr. Sutterer offered a somewhat more encouraging outlook based on the video footage.

“Another thing to consider is, of course, if the knee buckles inward, you’re going to have stretch on the inside portion of the joint,” he said. “The MCL ligament sits on the inside of the joint, and so that can certainly cause some stretch in the MCL when the knee is pushed inward.”

Ultimately, his latest theory is that the guard may have suffered a patella dislocation. “Patella comes to the outside, the lateral side of the trochlea, from a combination of the knee being pushed inward,” he stated. “This is the position that is going to be most comfortable initially, because they can’t straighten their knee out since that kneecap is translated on the lateral side of the joint.”

The Fever’s upcoming challenges

With Sophie Cunningham likely sidelined and uncertainty still surrounding Caitlin Clark’s status, these are the upcoming challenges Stephanie White’s team will face:

• vs Minnesota Lynx, August 22
• vs Minnesota Lynx, August 24
• vs Seattle Storm, August 26
• vs Los Angeles Sparks, August 29
• vs Golden State Valkyries, August 31