“Head of The Snake”: Sophie Cunningham Reveals Thoughts About Dream Star Ahead of Atlanta’s WNBA Finals Clash

WNBA“Head of The Snake”: Sophie Cunningham Reveals Thoughts About Dream Star Ahead of Atlanta’s WNBA Finals ClashAdd us on Google

WNBA“Head of The Snake”: Sophie Cunningham Reveals Thoughts About Dream Star Ahead of Atlanta’s WNBA Finals ClashAdd us on Google

CHICAGO, IL – AUGUST 23: Sophie Cunningham 8 of the Indiana Fever warms up before the regular season WNBA, Basketball Damen, USA game between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky on August 23, 2026 at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois. Photo by Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire WNBA: AUG 23 Indiana Fever at Chicago Sky EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon260823105

CHICAGO, IL – AUGUST 23: Sophie Cunningham 8 of the Indiana Fever warms up before the regular season WNBA, Basketball Damen, USA game between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky on August 23, 2026 at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois. Photo by Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire WNBA: AUG 23 Indiana Fever at Chicago Sky EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon260823105

Jordin Canada felt counted out. She said it after Game 1 against the Liberty, and then she went out and made the doubters think twice for the rest of the semifinals. That run in the 3-0 sweep did not go unnoticed by Sophie Cunningham, who knows exactly what that kind of long experience looks like.

While the Indiana Fever guard praised the Dream’s roster and the veteran leadership of DeWanna Bonner, it was Canada who particularly caught her attention, especially given what she produced in the semifinal series.

“Jordin Canada, man, she’s a beast,” Cunningham said, speaking on her No Hesitation podcast. “She’s been in the league for a really long time. And I’m pretty sure that she is kind of the head of the snake sometimes. I know that you have Allisha Gray. I know that you have Rhyne Howard, but if your point guard is setting the tone defensively and also with your pace, it’s gonna be a long night for whoever they’re playing. And you see that in this series.”

Losing a star player during a playoff series is usually the kind of setback that can derail a championship run. But with Jordin Canada, the Atlanta Dream had a different response. With Allisha Gray sidelined for much of their semifinal clash against the New York Liberty, Canada turned up the heat, delivering back-to-back 20-point performances before dishing out 11 assists in the series-clinching win.

In those three games, Canada averaged 22.3 points per game, 7.7 assists and three rebounds. In that first game, she even had five steals to her name. To put this in context, her regular-season average was 11.6 points per game.

Canada had been a key piece for the Dream all season, but this semifinal series brought out an entirely different level of her game. When Gray went down in Game 1, Canada immediately made sure the absence would not define the outcome.

She delivered 25 points, four assists, five steals, and a block, shooting 9-of-14 from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point range. It was a statement performance when the team needed one most, one that also earned praise and recognition from veteran teammate DeWanna Bonner, who also described her as the “head of the snake.”

“I just feel like that’s what we need from [Jordin Canada] and she knows that. She’s been doing that night in and night out,” Bonner said during the postgame interview. “We just rode her wave. She just brings all the energy. She’s the head of the snake on defense and offense.”

She picked up exactly where she left off in Game 2, absorbing an even heavier scoring and playmaking burden alongside Angel Reese to push Atlanta to a 2-0 series lead. She finished with 23 points, eight assists, and five rebounds, shooting 9-of-15 from the field and 3-of-6 from three.

And then, playing on the road at Barclays Center in the series-clinching Game 3, Canada delivered a historic, composed playmaking performance that punched Atlanta’s first ticket to the WNBA Finals since 2013. She finished with 19 points, 11 assists, and three rebounds, shooting 5-of-8 from the field and a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line.

With her stat line, she became only the third player in WNBA history to record at least 11 assists with zero turnovers in a playoff series-clinching game, joining legends Cynthia Cooper and Diana Taurasi.

Atlanta will now face the Golden State Valkyries in the WNBA Finals, a team that also earned its place by sweeping the defending champion Las Vegas Aces in the semifinals. The two franchises will meet in a best-of-seven series beginning on October 17.

The Dream cannot afford to lose the momentum and collective focus that carried them through the Liberty series, and if Jordin Canada, in particular, can replicate anywhere near the level of performance she sustained across those three games, Atlanta will be a formidable force in the championship round. The head of the snake, as Sophie Cunningham put it, will need to keep striking.