It only took one day for Cleveland’s WNBA team to find their Joakim Noah

Cleveland’s WNBA team doesn’t have any players of their own, but they already have one to boo.

The Cleveland Cavaliers had to toil through four decades of basketball to find someone who went out of their way to pick a fight with the entire city in Joakim Noah. A fight that he’s still carrying on to this day for some reason.

Cleveland’s newly announced WNBA team doesn’t have to wait that long. They didn’t even have to pick out a team name to start making enemies.

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunninningham called out both Detroit and Cleveland when asked about the news of the expansion teams. But unlike Noah, Cunningham couldn’t even get the name right of the city in Ohio she didn’t want to visit.

“I don’t know how excited people are to be going to Detroit or Cincinnati,” Cunningham said in her minute-long answer that listed Miami (famous for being beautiful in the summer and staying throughout NBA Finals games), Nashville, and Kansas City as places that would’ve been better cities.

Donovan Mitchell was quick to jump to Cleveland’s defense and rightfully point out that it’s great this time of year.

Going out of your way to talk badly about Detroit and/or Cincinnati and Cleveland is an odd choice when you simply could’ve just not done so. But maybe there’s a deeper meaning behind it.

Cunningham’s teammate, Caitlyn Clark, is on record talking about how much she enjoyed being in Cleveland when she was here for the Final Four in 2023. Clark loved the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and being able to play where LeBron James did for a majority of his career.

Possibly, this is just a coping mechanism because she’s scared that Clark will inevitably force her way to the shores of Lake Erie in 2028. And if so, who can blame her? You don’t want to be stuck in boring Indianapolis when your superstar teammate leaves you for the bright lights of Cleveland. It’s just a shame that Detroit and Cincinnati had to take shots too.

In all seriousness, this is disappointing on the heels of what is an exciting announcement that is being met with a groundswell of support locally. Hopefully, these comments aren’t indicative of the feelings from players around the league.

Cleveland has great fans and will do a phenomenal job supporting its WNBA team in 2028. They also have long memories. The city that booed Noah anytime he touched the ball years after those comments, and Kelly Olynyk to this day, will do the same anytime Cunningham does in her visits to Cleveland.