On June 17, the Indiana Fever played the Connecticut Sun in a Women’s National Basketball Association game filled with hard fouls and bad feelings. One Sun player shoved the Fever star Caitlin Clark. Another, Jacy Sheldon, had poked her in the eye. The antics infuriated one of Ms. Clark’s teammates — the quick-tempered Sophie Cunningham, who said in later interviews that she felt that Ms. Clark, whose talent and fame were transforming the W.N.B.A., wasn’t being properly protected by the referees.

She wanted to send a message.

So with less than a minute left in the game, when Ms. Sheldon stole the ball and went sprinting down the court, Ms. Cunningham wrapped her arms around Ms. Sheldon and pulled her to the hardwood, fouling her. She then fought back as Ms. Sheldon and another Sun player, Lindsay Allen, rushed toward her, enraged. All three were ejected from the game.

Ms. Cunningham became a sensation.

Within days, she had more than a million followers on Instagram and on TikTok, up from a few hundred thousand. People who saw her as Ms. Clark’s enforcer cheered her at games. Opposing fans booed her enthusiastically.

“I didn’t do that for clickbait,” Ms. Cunningham said in an interview. “I stand up for my teammates.” She said she had heard that parents were using the incident to teach their children “to stand up and do that for their friends and for themselves.”

Her motivations may not have been self-serving, but that one day created tremendous financial opportunity for Ms. Cunningham. She has also experienced increased attention from a conservative ecosystem that has lately shown interest in women’s basketball.