A New York Times columnist says WNBA player Sophie Cunningham, an outspoken opponent to transgender athletes in women's sports, has turned games for her team, the Indiana Fever, into a "circus" and that the team should release her.

The Fever was eliminated last week from championship contention, and the 30-year-old Cunningham is now an unrestricted free agent for a second consecutive offseason. 

"Cunningham is too combustible, her takes too turbulent to be paired with [league star] Caitlin Clark," columnist Candace Buckner writes in her opinion story, published Tuesday. 

"Clark, by her presence alone, already can’t get through a season without being thrown into gutter debates that pit White against Black; hate that appears even in the DMs of her own teammates. Cunningham, with only a few words, introduced new divisions."

She also writes that at least some fans, and activists, went to games to "be part of a circus. ... They attended solely to antagonize and amplify a nonexistent issue in this basketball league. All because of Sophie Cunningham. This was the season when the Fever and even the whole Caitlin Clark experience took a backseat to a bench player with big opinions."

Cunningham averaged 8 points per game this season.

"If the Fever ever wants to go back to being a basketball team again and follow the lead of rivals openly clashing with the forces trying to hijack their league, then Cunningham has to go.