Sophie Cunningham Weighs in on Angel Reese Suspension, Sky Comments: 'It's Not Good'

In case you've missed it, Sky forward Angel Reese has ruffled some feathers after making some regrettable comments during a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune. In the piece, published Sept. 3, Reese criticized the state of her struggling team and made clear she will not be "settling for the same s--- we did this year" going forward.

The whole kerfuffle led to a half-game suspension for Reese, who also ended up apologizing to her teammates for what they felt were direct attacks. Seeing as the Sky have now missed the postseason for the second straight year and have won just ten games this season, extra drama at the hands of their star player is certainly not something anyone wanted to deal with—even if Reese's frustration is understandable.

To that end, in an episode of her podcast released Tuesday, Fever guard Sophie Cunningham expressed some sympathy for Reese's struggles on a losing team, but made clear that these types of comments are just not ones you should say out loud, let alone to the media.

"I get it. When you're losing and it's been a frustrating season, everyone is feeling those emotions. And when I say everyone, it's not just her," Cunningham said. 'I'm sure her teammates feel it, her coaches feel it, the organization feels it, the fans. Literally everyone feels that.

"And there's just some things that—and this is coming from me—there's just some things that you can't say. I think one of my biggest things is I'm a very team-first person. I will always put the team before my feelings. And I think that should be a standard. You gotta protect your locker room. You just can't be saying everything you're feeling because that's just not a good look. ... Protect your locker room at all costs. I'm sure she regrets saying that, don't get me wrong, but man, there's just some things that everyone probably knows but you just can't say."

Watch that below starting at 31:00:

Cunningham summarized that nicely. If you're a competitor, losing is going to get on your nerves. But that still means you have to watch what you say, lest it become a problem in the locker room and therefore an even bigger problem for your success.