Sophie Cunningham’s $1M Social Media Windfall Leaves Fans Stunned—The Real Reason Behind Her Massive Payday Has Everyone Talking! WNBA Fines Pale in Comparison as Shocking Details Emerge—You Won’t Believe How She Did It. Click Now to See Why the Internet Can’t Stop Buzzing!

Indiana Fever wing Sophie Cunningham was fined twice for her behavior at the end of Tuesday’s clash with the Connecticut Sun. But her misconduct appears to already be paying dividends.

Cunningham received a reported $400 fine for her flagrant foul on Sun guard Jacy Sheldon with 46 seconds left in the 88-71 victory, as well as an additional, undisclosed financial penalty for her role in the shoving match that followed. The fracas followed an earlier incident in which Sheldon appeared to poke Fever guard Caitlin Clark in the eye.

“You’ve got competitive women who are the best in the world at what they do … and when you allow them to play physical, and you allow these things to happen, they’re going to compete, and they’re going to have their teammates’ backs,” Fever coach Stephanie White said after the game. “It’s exactly what you would expect out of fierce competition.”

In the following three days, close to a million fans seem to have taken Cunningham’s side. The sixth-year vet from Missouri has added 700,000 followers on TikTok and more than 244,000 newcomers on Instagram, according to social media analytics platform Social Blade. Cunningham now has more than 1 million followers on TikTok and 730,000 on Instagram, with some fans dubbing her “the Enforcer” in various online comment sections. As of Friday, her jerseys on the team’s store were listed as unavailable until July 8.

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If a brand wanted to add that many new followers on Instagram and TikTok, it could easily spend more than $1 million doing so, according to marketing agency STN Digital’s calculations. In the past, Cunningham offered to post sponsored content on her pages starting at $10,000 via OpenSponsorship. But that price has surely gone up. OpenSponsorship CEO Ishveen Jolly said that, in general, having 500,000 more Instagram followers alone could help net an additional $20,000 per post. Cunningham’s current endorsers include Adidas and Quest Nutrition, with multiple new potential partnerships now in the works.

“It’s unprecedented growth,” said Addison Abdo, who represents Cunningham as a senior director at sports management agency PRP. “We work with some pretty big athletes that have gone viral for some pretty big things, but this has been something that I haven’t seen before—this type of growth in this short amount of time … was very new territory.”

In a TikTok spot posted on Thursday, Cunningham jokingly referred to Tuesday’s incident, mouthing the lyrics, “I can’t keep my hands to myself—I mean I could, but why would I want to?” Thanks in part to her new following, the video garnered 3.1 million views within 21 hours. She celebrated hitting 1 million TikTok followers in a separate post on Friday.

Cunningham signed with the Fever in February on a reported one-year, $100,000 deal. She is now seeing the benefits of playing next to Caitlin Clark on a team in the international spotlight. More than 2 million viewers watched Clark’s (and Cunningham’s) return to play last Saturday against the Liberty. Indiana’s game in Las Vegas on Sunday is on ESPN, one of the team’s 41 nationally televised regular season contests. More than 1 million viewers tuned in for a preseason tune-up against Brazil’s national team. Cunningham’s following has been growing ever since that debut, her representatives said.

“We all knew what the power of the Fever was going to be,” PRP client manager Will Gladson said. He had been telling potential partners it was only a matter of time before Cunningham hit 1 million followers.

She worked as an NBA analyst while in Phoenix, where she played previously, and where she earned a prior nickname, “Spicy Sophie,” for her on-court intensity. Still, Gladson added, Cunningham achieved the milestone “quicker than anyone expected.”

As the WNBA and its players continue to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement, several stars, including Clark, see the bulk of their earnings come from beyond the court. That can make playing in a major media market—or on a team drawing outsized attention—even more valuable.