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By Matthew Couden
Contributing Writer
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The Indiana Fever's Sophie Cunningham recently made headlines for a variety of reasons, including a deleted tweet about the upcoming 3-point contest as part of the WNBA's All-Star Friday events in Chicago.
On Wednesday, Cunningham's trainer, Drew Hanlen, tweeted a list of the WNBA's top 3-point shooters, which showed Cunningham was second. He called out her not receiving an invite for this year's contest.
"Second in the league in 3P% & not invited to the 3-Point Contest? They’re hating on you, @sophaller!" Hanlen tweeted, and Cunningham retweeted it.
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However, the Fever star deleted her retweet, prompting reporters to ask her at a recent practice if she wanted an invite from the WNBA to participate in the contest.
"I mean, I think it would've been fun, but I'm not surprised. I feel like the league always gets in the league's way. I was gonna keep that post up, but then I was like, you know what, who cares? I don't need to get into all of that. The people that they chose, they are elite-level shooters. I think they're gonna have a lot of fun and they're all qualified to be there," Cunningham said.
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Her recent remarks arrive just after news several days ago that the league invited her teammate, All-Star Caitlin Clark, to participate, but Clark reportedly turned down the invite. The same was said about Minnesota Lynx guard Kayla McBride.
In addition, ESPN's initial report said the New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu, last year's defending champion, turned down this year's contest. However, Ionescu later said she had never received an invite from the WNBA.
Cunningham is currently averaging 9.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game for the Fever. She's shooting 42.9% on 3-pointers this season, attempting an average of four per game, and hitting 1.7 per game. She's had several Fever games where she went 6 of 7 from long range.
The league chose six other individuals to participate in the field for this year's 3-Point Contest with Dallas Wings rookie Azzi Fudd, Atlanta's Rhyne Howard, Toronto's Marina Mabrey, Golden State's Janelle Salaun, Seattle's Natisha Hiedeman, and Portland's Bridget Carleton.
While Fudd is popular due to her being the No. 1 pick out of UConn, having either Caitlin Clark or Sophie Cunningham representing the Fever would've been a major draw for the WNBA, especially for a random Friday night All-Star event.
The WNBA 3-Point Contest and Shooting Stars occur on Friday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, Disney+, and the ESPN+ app.
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