Sophie Cunningham pushed ahead of Chennedy Carter on Sunday, and the WNBA Sixth Player of the Year race now has a new edge. In the Indiana Fever's win over the Las Vegas Aces, Cunningham did more than hold her spot; she separated herself from the player who began the season as one of the award favorites.
That matters because Carter had been tied to the race from the opening stretch. She scored 20 points off the Aces' bench in four of her first six games, while Janelle Salaün opened with a couple of 20-point outings and hot 3-point shooting. For a while, the award looked like it belonged to Carter and Salaün to lose.
Carter then missed significant time because of injury and illness, and Cunningham used that opening to break into the conversation. Salaün still leads the WNBA in total bench points with 263, and Zia Cooke sits second, but Cunningham's performance in the Fever's first meeting with the Aces let her create separation from Carter. By the numbers, Cunningham and Carter are now tied for third in total points scored off the bench, but the shape of the race has changed because Cunningham kept playing while Carter sat.
Carter returned from a lengthy absence before the Commissioner’s Cup game against the New York Liberty and looked sharp at first, scoring 18 points in 25 minutes. But the rhythm did not last. She played 11 minutes in the next game and scored four points, then on Sunday she took two shots in 15 minutes against the Fever and missed both. She finished with 0 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal.
That is the friction in the race now: Carter still has the early-season résumé, and Salaün may still be the favorite, but Cunningham has the momentum that comes from availability and production in real time. If Carter finds her first-month form again, the award picture can tighten fast. If she does not, Cunningham has already done enough to make the late stretch matter.
