Former Fever guard Sydney Colson emphasized the importance of solidarity among WNBA players during a recent episode of her podcast, "Unsupervised with Syd & TP," which she co-hosts with fellow former player Theresa Plaisance. Colson addressed issues confronting the league in 2026, particularly regarding the responses of teammates to discrimination and trans athlete participation.
While Colson did not mention Indiana’s Sophie Cunningham by name, her remarks resonated with Cunningham's previous comments on transgender participation in women's sports. Colson stated, "For the white players in the league, when you don’t say s–t, and even worse, when you say things that are harmful, talking about the trans s–t, nobody respects you. Shut the f–k up. Shut the f–k up. Nobody wants to hear your opinion. Freedom of speech, so you can say it, but just know people are trying to get by when they’re dealing with you."
Colson further discussed the responsibility players have to support teammates, particularly in light of ongoing discussions about discrimination within the league. She remarked, "Listen, if you never speak up about a damn thing when you know it’s impacting the people you claim to love and care about, you ought to be ashamed to act like you’re cool with people, to act like you care about sisterhood, all of these things."
Cunningham had previously expressed her views on the matter during a July interview with ESPN, stating, "I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men."
Colson also addressed comments made by Fever general manager Amber Cox, who defended the team’s fan base amid allegations of racism. Cox stated, "The attacks on our fanbase have no basis in reality, and they need to stop." Colson disagreed, highlighting concerns raised by players about their experiences with fans in Indiana.
She noted, "But what I painted for you was an environment of a culture that’s continuing and not being addressed. And people are being told that things are not ‘based in reality,’ even though players are documented and on record saying what they’ve experienced. So now, it’s a slap in the face to black players who are in the organization right now, who have been in it, who are possibly going to have to be in it."
Colson clarified that she was not accusing every Fever fan of discriminatory behavior but questioned the organization's efforts to address incidents involving its fans. "We didn’t say that these individual people are racist, but this environment is not discouraging people from showing up and being hateful, racist, homophobic, sexist, any of those things. It’s a problem, and it’s not new," she added.
Colson, who tore her ACL last August, was not on the roster this season.