Indiana Fever forward Sophie Cunningham is still trying to swat off questions about her political take in the July 21 issue of ESPN The Magazine. She’s asked the media to focus on sports, and based on her comments, the media could ask her to do the same. It begs the question: should athletes be vocal and discuss politics in sports?
Cunningham tends to be a right-leaning figure in sports, despite how she may classify herself, so when she speaks her mind and supports her political views aloud, it ruffles the feathers of those who are more left-leaning. On the flip side, LeBron James tends to voice ideas that appease the left and annoy the right. That’s just the nature of politics. It’s possible to please some of the people all the time.
Neither James nor Cunningham is the first athlete to speak their mind about politics, and they won’t be the last. Should they be? According to some, like Fox News host Laura Ingraham, they should be (or at least James should be; she’s fine with Cunningham talking politics). James and fellow NBA superstar Kevin Durant have never shied away from political topics, and in 2018, Ingraham famously told them to “Shut up and dribble.”
Ingraham did go more in depth on the topic, saying that it’s unwise to seek political advice from someone who gets paid $100 million a year to bounce a ball. It might be considered equally unwise to seek political advice from someone who gets paid $5 million a year to put on makeup in front of a TV camera. There are two sides to every coin, or two edges to every sword.
Politics In Sports: Everyone Should Use Their Voice
During the 2026 Winter Olympics, freestyle skier Hunter Hess said that he doesn’t agree with everything going on in America. His exact quote, “Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the US,” drew the ire of the American President, calling the skier a “loser”. It’s likely that had the comments been made four years prior, the same president (then the ex-president) would have called the same person a “winner”.
The truth of the matter is that it’s okay for Cunningham, James, and Hess to publicly express their opinions on all things. Sports, movies, religion, and politics. To say they should not share those comments because they are athletes and not political science doctorates is to suggest that the construction worker should also keep his mouth shut, and so should the taxi driver, doctor, lawyer, and everyone else, for that matter.
One of the greatest things about the country is the First Amendment, and people should not be discouraged from exercising it. Just because someone is not an expert does not mean that they shouldn’t have an opinion. There are those who feel the bigger fear is the reach these athletes have. It’s fine that they have opinions, but they shouldn’t be using a megaphone that reaches millions when they share those thoughts.
Once again, this is faulty thinking. If it were true, then the President of the United States should not publicly state his opinion either, because his voice is heard by millions, and since he is not a moderate, he uses his platform to influence people with his ideas, even if they are dead wrong. Why is it OK for him and not for James or Cunningham?
It is OK for the president to spew nonsense to billions, and it’s OK for James, Cunningham, Hess, and all the other athletes of the world to do the same thing. People will complain about it, because that’s what people do better than any other species on the planet. Comedian (and basically prophet) George Carlin summed it up best. “The next time someone says, ‘I have a right to my opinion.” Say, “Yeah, well, I have a right to my opinion, and my opinion is, you have no right to your opinion.”
