Besides getting ejected from the game against the Indiana Fever, DiJonai Carringtonhas has faced backlash over her flagrant foul on Sophie Cunningham. However, Former ESPN Sports anchor Cindy Brunson has pushed back against the criticism of Carrington, arguing that Cunningham also initiated contact and should have been ejected from the game herself.
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“Sure, and by those VERY rules, since Sophie initiated contact with Nai’s neck, then she also should’ve been tossed via a flagrant 2,” Brunson wrote on Threads.
Brunson’s argument came in direct response to a commenter who had challenged her initial take, in which she had described Carrington’s foul as a Flagrant 1 at most and not deserving of an ejection.
“I’m team @dijonai all day every day and at most that should’ve been a flagrant 1, not an ejection,” Brunson had originally said.
The individual who pushed back on that assessment was unsparing, describing DiJonai Carrington’s foul as a textbook Flagrant 2. And for Brunson, if they were to apply the rule consistently, then Cunningham should also get a flagrant 2 or be called for a technical for her reaction after the foul.
Like Brunson pointed out, Cunningham, upon hitting the floor from Carrington’s foul, immediately jumped back up and confronted Carrington face-to-face, before teammates, officials, and arena security stepped in to restrain her.
For Brunson, that response carried its own intent and impact, and the fact that Cunningham walked away without a technical foul or any sanction at all didn’t sit well with her.
“Gotcha, but the miss of the aggression and shove/slap by Cunningham should’ve also been t’d up,” Brunson replied to another user who commented on her post.
Carrington’s foul itself occurred barely three minutes into the first quarter of Saturday’s Indiana Fever versus Chicago Sky game. Carrington chased Cunningham down on a fast break and, as Cunningham jumped for a layup, swiped her left arm directly across Cunningham’s face and neck, sending an airborne Cunningham crashing hard to the floor.
However, Sophie Cunningham managed to land the layup despite the hard foul. Although the officials initially assigned a flagrant foul 1, they changed their verdict to a flagrant 2 once they reviewed the footage and ejected DiJonai Carrington from the game, which the Sky eventually lost 90-86.
Cunningham herself agreed with the official decision as she thought Carrington’s hard foul was out of line.
“Clearly, I think it was unnecessary. I’ve never really spoken to her and have no beef with her, but I guess she has some pent-up stuff. So, get your [stuff] off. That’s fine – I can take it,” the WNBA guard told the media after the game.
Surprisingly, Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White also came to DiJonai Carrington’s defense while also agreeing with the flagrant 2 call.
“It did happen, and I thought it was the right call… But you know, one of the things about Nay is that she’s gonna play her butt off, man. She’s gonna compete. Nobody’s gonna go walking in for a layup. And so, I don’t oppose the hard foul. But I also don’t think that she intentionally went for the neck.,” said the Fever coach.
Yet, while the community debates the call, the Chicago Sky player is already looking forward to the rematch with the Fever set for August 23. On Sunday, Carrington posted “8/23” on X in anticipation.