Sophie Cunningham's 2026 Comeback, by the Numbers

Sophie Cunningham returned to a WNBA game on 9 May 2026, 265 days after the knee injury that ended her first Indiana season. That date answers when she came back. It does not answer how the comeback has gone.

The fairest comparison is not between totals. Her 2025 season stopped after 30 games, while she played 43 in the 2026 regular season. Per-game rates, shooting percentages and the shape of her role are more useful. Read that way, the record shows two things at once: Indiana has used her less, and her shooting stayed close to its 2025 level without matching it.

This analysis uses complete regular-season figures for both years; 2026 post-season games are not included. The complete injury chronology is covered in the story of the injury and return; the question here is narrower — what changed after she got back.

The shooting line moved only slightly

Cunningham shot .469 from the field in 2025 and .460 across the 2026 regular season. From three, she went from .432 to .419.

That is not evidence of a dramatic leap, and a drop of about one percentage point is not evidence of a collapse. Despite the smaller role, her field-goal and three-point percentages finished close to their 2025 levels, slightly below them.

The comparison also needs scale. Her Indiana shooting covers 73 games across two seasons; her six Phoenix seasons covered 182. The Indiana three-point percentage is higher, but it comes from a much smaller body of work. The full season table keeps those samples visible.

Why 7.9 points is not the whole answer

Her scoring average fell from 8.6 points in 25.2 minutes to 7.9 in 22.2. The points dipped by 8.1%; the minutes fell by 11.9%. Adjusting both seasons to the same 36-minute scale produces 12.3 points in 2025 and 12.8 in 2026.

That calculation is simple — points per game divided by minutes per game, multiplied by 36 — and it is not a prediction of what she would score if she actually played 36 minutes. It removes the unequal playing time so the scoring rates can be compared. On that basis, her rate rose by 0.5 points per 36 minutes.

One part did fall

Rebounding moved from 3.5 to 2.3 a game, a steeper fall than the minutes alone explain. The numbers identify the difference; they do not identify its cause. Line-ups, assignments, health and ordinary variation are all possible explanations, but none is established by the sources used here.

What can be said now

The comeback is already real in the narrowest sense: she returned, appeared in 43 regular-season games, and produced a 24-point night. The statistical case is more measured. Her role became smaller and more bench-based. Her scoring average edged down. Her scoring rate per minute rose slightly, and her shooting finished a little below 2025.

What cannot be said is whether a two-season Indiana sample marks a permanent level. Post-season games are left out so that both years are compared on the same regular-season basis.

How the season ended

The 2025 season ended for her in August with the knee injury, before Indiana's playoffs. The 2026 season did not. She played in all three of Indiana's first-round games against the Las Vegas Aces, scoring 22 points in 3 games, 13 of them in Game 1. Indiana won Game 2 and lost the series 2–1; its season ended on 1 October 2026.

That completes the comeback: from the injury, through rehabilitation, to a full regular season and a playoff series. Her one-year contract covered 2026 only, and she is due to become an unrestricted free agent; what follows is covered in her 2027 free agency. The three playoff games are listed separately on the statistics page; they are not counted in the comparison above.