Vacation photos from a delayed 30th birthday ignited dating rumors around the Indiana Fever guard. Neither she nor Frank Adams has confirmed anything.

Date: 09/15/2026 | Location: Indianapolis, Indiana

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham became the center of a national social-media firestorm over the weekend after photos from her delayed 30th birthday trip circulated online, showing her on a boat with a man whom fans identified as Frank Adams, the head athletic trainer for Grand Canyon University's men's basketball program. The images were posted by the fan account Fever Updates on X on Sept. 11 with the caption "Sophie Cunningham revealed her new boyfriend," a framing that spread within hours and generated millions of views.

The photos came from a birthday gathering at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri during the WNBA's midseason break for the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup. Cunningham turned 30 on Aug. 16, the day the Fever played Atlanta, and her sister, Lindsey Cunningham Hudson, shared family photos and video from the later celebration, including time on the water and a cake. Notably, the boat images did not appear on Cunningham's own social accounts. According to the NY Post, she later posted Instagram photos in the same bikini with a birthday cake — context that points to a family-and-friends birthday trip rather than a boyfriend announcement.

Neither Cunningham nor Adams has publicly confirmed a romantic relationship. A viral X post attributed a detailed quote to Cunningham — "Frank and I have been dating since I was in Phoenix..." — but fact-checkers found the attached video does not contain those words, and no reliable source shows her making the statement. Users on the platform also flagged a mismatch between the audio and the subtitles in the clip.

The rumors themselves are not new. Fans first linked Cunningham and Adams in March 2026 after she attended GCU men's basketball games and appeared in photos with him at a bowling event. A June 2026 video from an Adidas store in Portland resurfaced this week, and the pair were later seen together at a UFC event in Las Vegas in July, where some fans claimed they were holding hands. None of those sightings produced confirmation from either person. Adams, an Atlanta native and former college basketball player, spent six years as an assistant athletic trainer with the Phoenix Suns before joining GCU's sports medicine staff in 2025.

Cunningham has kept her romantic life private and painted a picture far quieter than the internet's version. On the "Like a Farmer" podcast earlier this year she said, "People don't come up to me. I don't really go on dates," adding, "I think I just maybe give off, like, an intimidating vibe." Her last publicly confirmed relationship was with Missouri State student-athlete Jakob Neidig, which ended in May 2020. Everything since has been rumor — including unproven allegations involving then-Phoenix Mercury CEO Josh Bartelstein that surfaced through a lawsuit filed by a Phoenix Suns employee.

Reaction to the boat photos split along familiar lines. Some fans used the images to argue personal relationships don't follow political branding, pointing to attention Cunningham received earlier this year over comments in an ESPN feature on transgender athletes that earned her the "MAGA Barbie" nickname from critics — a label she has not adopted. Others treated the pictures as a private matter, while longtime followers argued any relationship is not a new development. Cunningham has declined to address either the relationship questions or the reaction.