The numbers appear to back up Sophie Cunningham’s safety selections.
The free agent guard gained more Instagram followers this season than any of the other 49 most-followed WNBA gamers mixed, and more than any NBA player, branding and social media company bknown reported Tuesday.
During a span stretching from May 8 to Nov. 2 in wanting at WNBA gamers and the NBA’s prime 50 by followers, Cunningham reportedly gained over 2,952,195 followers.
Her following more than tripled during the season, going from 1,403,868 to 4,356,063 loyalists.
Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) celebrates a 3-pointer on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
The other prime 49 WNBA gamers mixed earned almost two million more followers while Knicks star Jalen Brunson saw an enhance of just over a million.
Victor Wembanyama saw a plus-763,134 and Karl-Anthony Towns earned 384,306 more followers.
While Cunningham has said she loves bringing new eyes to the league, her exploding fandom, particularly following her remarks on transgender athletes in ladies’s sports activities, has also introduced undesirable ones on herself.
So much so, the 30-year-old employed safety to begin touring with her.
“I will say… definitely in certain places people kind of knew who I was and I couldn’t really go anywhere,” Cunningham said on Monday’s installment of the “No Hesitation” podcast. “Now it doesn’t matter what state, what city, it’s everywhere. And so I’ve hired security and they’re going to start traveling with me actually next week 24/7. So that’s a little different. It kind of stops you from your regular routine.”
The determination {followed} her admission on the “This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von” podcast that she has 20 stalkers that the FBI is watching for her.
Sophie Cunningham attends the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. BACKGRID
“There’s also a lot of kind of crazy people to,” Cunningham instructed Von. “We do have a lot of stalkers, I know I do… And that’s the negative side of things that people don’t think about… I have 20, I think, people kind of that the FBI are watching for me.”
One of these Stalkers, Kevin Singh, delivered a bundle containing a letter and a Gun N’ Roses T-shirt sprayed with males’s cologne for Cunningham at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in September 2025.
The 48-year-old has since been arrested on felony fees of stalking, intimidation and misdemeanor in June.
Cunningham shot into the headlines after she instructed ESPN that she needs to “protect young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men” in a characteristic interview in July.
Her feedback introduced out an ongoing struggle within the league and sparked rallies at Fever video games organized by followers and gender activist teams.
Cunningham is a free agent heading into the 2027 offseason after the Fever were eradicated by the Aces in the first spherical of the playoffs.
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