Full Court Press

[crowd cheering] Cross court, is there time for this? [buzzer] Yes, there is.

Sophie Cunningham, pick it up right where she left off-

Sophie Cunningham is Clark's teammate on the Indiana Fever, who often plays the role of enforcer.

Already a polarizing figure for her performance and behavior on the court, she touched off a firestorm with comments off the court to ESPN.com last month.

The topic, transgender athletes in organized sports.

Cunningham is not a fan.

Asked about her history of engaging with activists who opposed trans athletes' participation, Cunningham said she's not anti-trans, but wants to, quote, "protect young girls in a locker room or young girls in a sport who shouldn't have to go against biological men," end quote.

Uh, those remarks enraged some fans, delighted others, and were quickly seized upon by the White House when asked if President Trump was aware.

Uh, I know he is following the story.

As you know, this is something the president feels strongly about as well, and the American people do, too, um, that men should not be playing in women's sports.

Uh, before we go any further, it's worth noting there are no men or transgender women playing in the WNBA.

There are no transgender athletes in major professional sports here in the United States, and at last count, fewer than 10 at the college level out of more than half a million athletes in the NCAA.

Nevertheless, the Cunningham commotion inspired signs, shirts, and protests that have followed the Fever for weeks now.

On the road in Seattle, two young Cunningham supporters sitting courtside with handmade posters were reportedly scolded by the home team's co-owner, who was slapped with a five-game suspension.

The controversy followed the Fever to Minneapolis this weekend, where Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve spoke at length to the media about her concerns over Cunningham's remarks and suggested the WNBA could take a leadership role in working towards some kind of resolution.

That's where I say that common sense people get together and you find common ground to find a way to be inclusive.

The answer isn't no.

Uh, it is not the case that we have, quote, "biological men" in girls' locker rooms.

The way it's being phrased, the innuendo there that somehow, uh, transgender women are predators of some kind in the locker room, there's a lot of narrative that is problematic that we need to address.

Uh, that is simply not what's happening.

Reeve made her position even more clear during Sunday's game against Cunningham and the Fever, wearing a T-shirt that read, "Trans kids belong." And later that night, Cunningham's teammate, the league's most famous player, and perhaps the most popular athlete in America, Caitlin Clark, weighed in, trying to set the issue aside.

We don't, it's not really a discussion we really have in our locker room.

I think it's for leagues and the governing bodies to work with their athletes to find solutions, but our focus is on basketball, and that's what we talk about and how we can get wins, and obviously, we didn't do that tonight, so.

Do you have any, you know, reaction to the-

I just answered for you.