{"id":49385,"date":"2025-05-22T08:35:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T08:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/49385\/"},"modified":"2025-05-22T08:35:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T08:35:14","slug":"wnba-star-sophie-cunningham-addresses-hurtful-accusations-she-had-affair-with-married-phoenix-suns-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/49385\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA star Sophie Cunningham addresses ‘hurtful’ accusations she had affair with married Phoenix Suns CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sophie Cunningham is addressing the \u201churtful\u201d allegations from a bombshell lawsuit<\/a> that claimed she had an affair <\/a>with married Phoenix Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein.<\/p>\n

The WNBA star took to X <\/a>Wednesday to call out plaintiff Gene Traylor \u2014 the Sun\u2019s former\u00a0director of safety, security and risk management \u2014 who claimed the \u201cdamaging information\u201d about Cunningham and Bartelstein was circulating within \u201cthe organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am deeply saddened by the recent false accusations made against me by Gene Traylor, someone I do not know and have never met. Let me be clear, his statements are untrue and extremely hurtful,\u201d Cunningham wrote in part.<\/p>\n

WNBA star Sophie Cunningham denied the \u201churtful\u201d allegations from a bombshell lawsuit claiming she had an affair with married Phoenix Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI am deeply saddened by the recent false accusations made against me by Gene Traylor, someone I do not know and have never met,\u201d the athlete wrote via X on Wednesday. sophaller\/X<\/p>\n

\u201cI am here to compete, play basketball at the highest level and win for my team and my fans, while inspiring other women that they can do or be anything they ever dream of becoming. I hold myself to the highest integrity and my values are what guide me on and off the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cI will not let untrue gossip take my focus away from what is most important to me, which is basketball, my supportive team and my fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, Traylor filed a lawsuit claiming he experienced racial discrimination and security problems while working for the basketball league.<\/p>\n

On his first day of work, Traylor alleged that Cornelius Craig, the vice president of security and risk management for Mercury and the Suns, demoted him.<\/p>\n

Traylor alleged in his filing that he confronted Bartelstein about how he believed Craig was targeting him.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me be clear, his statements are untrue and extremely hurtful,\u201d she continued. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI am here to compete, play basketball at the highest level and win for my team and my fans, while inspiring other women that they can do or be anything they ever dream of becoming,\u201d Cunningham added. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Per the lawsuit, Traylor allegedly shared with Bartelstein \u201cthat Craig had been spreading damaging information that could jeopardize the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Traylor allegedly told Bartelstein that the VP had been saying, \u201cJosh Bartelstein is f\u2013king Sophie Cunningham.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAdditionally, Plaintiff requested that Bartelstein speak with the security team about Craig\u2019s behavior,\u201d the lawsuit reads.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Traylor\u2019s lawyer, Sheree Wright, told Page Six that her client was \u201cnot the source of that allegation,\u201d despite Cunningham\u2019s claim.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Cunningham\u2019s statement misrepresents the facts and recklessly places responsibility on Mr. Traylor for something he did not say,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether this is the result of poor comprehension or a deliberate effort to damage Mr. Traylor\u2019s credibility, the effect is the same: it distorts the truth and fuels a false narrative. That is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis lawsuit isn\u2019t about her. It\u2019s about an organization where executives failed to address serious security concerns, ignored discrimination complaints,\u201d the attorney continued.<\/p>\n

The basketball star claimed that she \u201chold[s] [herself] to the highest integrity.\u201d NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

She concluded, \u201cI will not let untrue gossip take my focus away from what is most important to me, which is basketball, my supportive team and my fans.\u201d Getty Images<\/p>\n

The allegations about Cunningham and Bartelstein were made in a bombshell lawsuit. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Bartelstein is the Phoenix Suns CEO. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWant more celebrity and pop culture news?\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with Page Six Daily.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Suns, meanwhile, vehemently denied the allegations, telling Page Six, \u201cThe recent reports concerning Josh Bartelstein and Sophie Cunningham are entirely false and morally reprehensible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rep added that Traylor\u2019s attorney is currently under \u201ca two-year probation with the Arizona State Bar for violating the rules of professional conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wright was put on probation last August, per the State Bar of Arizona<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A rep for the Suns denied the allegations. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe recent reports concerning Josh Bartelstein and Sophie Cunningham are entirely false and morally reprehensible,\u201d the spokesperson told Page Six. cinzia_xxiv\/Twitter<\/p>\n

Wright, however, claimed the allegations in Traylor\u2019s lawsuit were \u201cnot fabricated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was corroborated long before the complaint was filed, and the organization is well aware of this,\u201d\u00a0she told Page Six.<\/p>\n

Wright also commented on her probation, stating she is a \u201clicensed attorney in good standing\u201d and \u201cwill not be bullied\u201d or \u201csilenced.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sophie Cunningham is addressing the \u201churtful\u201d allegations from a bombshell lawsuit that claimed she had an affair with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[12890,3713,7,13110,4630,13111,13112,6,2065,472,4045,66,604,458],"class_list":{"0":"post-49385","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix-suns","8":"tag-affairs","9":"tag-athletes","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-celebrity-lawsuits","12":"tag-celebrity-news","13":"tag-celebrity-social-media","14":"tag-cheating","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-phoenix","17":"tag-phoenix-suns","18":"tag-phoenixsuns","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-suns","21":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114550572672262388","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}