Vance offered a very public message

When JD Vance was asked about Sophie Cunningham in early August, the Indiana Fever guard had already become one of the most politically discussed players in American basketball.

Cunningham had drawn national attention after publicly arguing that transgender women should not compete in women’s sports. She stressed that her position was not rooted in hostility toward transgender people, but said she wanted to protect sex-based competition in women’s sport. In a July interview reported by the Los Angeles Times, Cunningham said she would not “falter” in that belief.

Then the vice president entered the conversation.

During an August 6 appearance on Fox News, Vance praised Cunningham for continuing to express her views despite the criticism surrounding her. According to Fox News, Vance told viewers: “The thing about courage is it’s contagious.” He encouraged Cunningham to continue speaking her mind.

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Something unusual happened weeks later

Vance could hardly have known how quickly Cunningham’s public profile would continue to grow.

On August 30, Yahoo Sports reported that Cunningham had reached roughly 4.1 million Instagram followers, moving ahead of Fever teammate Caitlin Clark, who stood at around four million. That made Cunningham the second-most-followed active WNBA player on the platform.

That is a remarkable reversal of the normal hierarchy surrounding Indiana.

Clark remains one of the defining stars of the WNBA and has been central to the extraordinary surge in attention surrounding women’s basketball. Cunningham, by comparison, has never possessed anything close to Clark’s sporting profile. Yet on one highly visible measurement of individual popularity, she has now moved ahead.

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There is no evidence that Vance’s endorsement caused Cunningham’s rise, and her social-media following was already growing before he spoke publicly about her. But the timing illustrates something much bigger.

A basketball player became a political symbol

Cunningham is increasingly being followed for more than basketball. Her comments have placed her at the center of an American cultural debate that has since spread far beyond the Fever.

The dispute has continued throughout August, involving players, politicians and former NBA figures. Los Angeles Sparks star Cameron Brink recently attacked Enes Kanter Freedom over his attempts to bring the transgender-athlete debate into the WNBA, while the league has found itself repeatedly dragged into the political argument despite having no transgender players.

When Vance said courage could be contagious, he was talking about people being inspired to speak publicly.

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Less than a month later, Cunningham’s extraordinary rise suggests something else can be contagious too: attention.

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