The WNBA and its fans are rapidly learning what happens when your sport becomes popular. As I’ve long argued, women’s sports are poised to become an unquestionable growth industry, so it should not be surprising to see how the WNBA has been thrown into the ever-insatiable cultural maw. That’s just what happens when more people start caring about it, when it shifts from being a niche item for obsessives to something with undeniable widespread appeal. This is true in and on every field, from politics to entertainment to social media: The more new people notice something, the more they will start using it as a cudgel in whatever their pet agendas might happen to be. These growing pains actually are a sign of progress, but they are still pains.

The controversies entangling the WNBA right now are not fun for anyone involved. Thankfully, they haven’t taken away from the enjoyment of the games themselves — which are indisputably being played at a higher level than at any other time in the WNBA’s history — but it can make following the league right now feel a little like … well, a little like using X, where almost all the WNBA’s supposed controversies have lived. You have to wade through a lot of muck and slop just to get to the good stuff.

. What’s everybody so upset about (and is it really everybody)?

Again, most WNBA fans aren’t upset about anything. They’re enjoying the normal storylines that sports fans enjoy: A’ja Wilson going for her third straight MVP award (and fourth title in five years for Las Vegas); the incredible run Minnesota (Prince’s favorite team!) is on, led by rookie sensation Olivia Miles; having Caitlin Clark healthy again and averaging 21.5 on a team that might have the best scoring backcourt (with Kelsey Mitchell) in league history. If you are a regular viewer of the WNBA and can ignore all the junk surrounding it right now, you are probably having a fantastic time, as you should.

The main character of the WNBA right now is, alas, none of those people: It’s Sophie Cunningham, an eight-year veteran of the league, mostly as a reserve and 3-point specialist for the Phoenix Mercury. It wasn’t until last year when Cunningham went from being a general afterthought to the league’s most-searched term on Google. After being traded to Clark’s Indiana Fever, Cunningham expanded her profile and embraced becoming Clark’s “enforcer” — a role more commonly seen in hockey, with........

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