​Sophie Cunningham has been everywhere lately: billboards and Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue and, yes, WNBA courts across America. But despite being a 6-foot-1 guard for the Indiana Fever, Cunningham’s virality has little to do with basketball.This is now a problem, according to comments she made earlier this month. “WNBA media, all we ever do is cover everything except basketball,” Cunningham said. “And it’s like, what are we doing?”Within an hour of those remarks going live, members of the media were defending themselves and their coverage while fans noted the obvious: Cunningham’s shift from middling role player to the right’s favorite It Girl who can sell out a signature shoe in a couple of hours is directly fueled by excessive chatter, in the media and elsewhere, about everything other than hoops.This call-out is the proper, obvious take. It also assumes an ignorance that Cunningham has never displayed.Cunningham isn’t begging for more reporting on points per game or wins and losses. She’s using the media to her own advantage. She’s riling up the follower base that has made her famous by tapping into their preexisting disdain for everything-not-Fox-News. By suggesting a shared frustration with the mainstream press. Cunningham is giving her followers another reason to root for her – and ultimately giving her own celebrity another boost.A viral gesture turned marketing toolOn July 29, I received an email from a publicist pitching a discount prescription drug marketplace called SHARx. The subject line: More to “The Point:” SHARx and Sophie Cunningham Turn a Viral Spotlight on Prescription Affordability“The Point” in reference is, of course, Cunningham’s viral gesture toward Phoenix Mercury forward DeWanna Bonner. During a heated matchup between the Fever and Mercury on June 22, Clark was assessed a technical foul following a basketball dustup with Bonner. Cunningham argued that Bonner should’ve been T’d up as well, and when Bonner told Cunningham to stop pointing, the Cunningham extended her finger for a full 22 seconds.Briggs: The right doesn’t own ‘The Odyssey’ or classical schoolsThere was no basketball happening on the floor; play had long been whistled dead. But Cunningham kept smirking and kept pointing, just to get under Bonner’s skin.”I think it’s dumb,” Cunningham said days later, as the petty reaction continued to spread like wildfire across social media, sports talk shows and media publications large and small. “But it was pissing her off, and I couldn’t help myself. She was losing her s*** and all I was doing was literally pointing.”Companies were eager to capitalize on the viral moment, but all licensing requests that came to the league office were promptly denied. Official policy of the WNBA Players Association states that corporate partners of the league are not allowed to profit from any disputes between players. As an individual, Cunningham was held to no such restrictions. So no matter how dum